UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 15, 2011. The first ten electrolysis tanks at UC RUSAL Krasnoturyinsk-based Bogoslovsky smelter will be shut down as soon as today, which can only mean one thing: UC RUSAL decided to do away with Buildings 1-4 at the smelter, Vecherny Krasnoturyinsk reports. According to the newspaper, Building 1 contains at least 130 electrolysis tanks, and these will be shut down step-by-step: ten tanks every three or four days. ‘This means that in a month, or a in a month and a half, Building 1 will stop operating altogether. Once the tanks have been shut down, some of the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 15, 2011. Microsoft Corporation came up with the latest updates on its piracy monitoring program in Russian provinces. In August-September 2011, about 23% out of 3,016 retail outlets in eighty Russian cities offered for sale unlicensed copies of computer software programs in one way or another. In spite of the traditional seasonal increase in the number of pirated software programs on sale (the results of the monitoring in the fall showed 23% of programs were pirated, whereas in the spring, the figure came to 17%), all in all, piracy keeps going down. In

The awarding ceremony of the Event of the Year in Russia’s Metallurgy took place in Moscow for the first time this year in the course of the annual international exhibition known as Metal Expo. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) was awarded the prize for its contribution to the technological and innovational development of the metallurgical industry, which was made possible due to the launch of cold-roll Mill 2000. The exhibition’s coordinating committee observed that Mill 2000 was unique to Russia. Its produce is meant to meet the Russian car-makers and the foreign car manufacturers’

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 14, 2011. The net profit of Concern Kalina decreased by 20.6% and came to 868.21m RUR, Finmarket.ru refers to the company’s report as stating. At the same time, the concern’s gross profit rose by 3.3% and amounted to 5.09bn RUR. The sales revenues went down by 5.3% and reached 2.41bn RUR. The company’s pre-tax profit declined by 26.6%, down to 1.02bn RUR.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 14, 2011. ‘The information posted via the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Justice’s website is inaccurate and outdated. The share I used to have in Reltec International s.r.o. was handed over to trust management experts and does not belong to me any more. Besides, my Czech visa expired in September 2011,’ Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government and the region’s Minister for Industry & Science Alexander Petrov told UrBC. Now according to Prazhsky Telegraph, Alexander Petrov is the Managing Director at the Czech company Reltec International Ltd, with a 20%

UrBC, Moscow, November 14, 2011. The power supplier Enel OGK-5 came up with an un-audited financial report (drawn up in accordance with the International Accounting Standards) for the nine months of 2011. The company supplied 31,122 gigawatt-hours to consumers in January-September 2011, which was a little less than in January-September 2010 (31,652 gigawatt-hours). The decrease in the supply of electric power was caused by upgrades at Section 5 of Sverdlovsk Region-based Reftinskaya power station and the long-term overhaul of Section 9. ‘The decline in power supply was made up for by the

UrBC, Moscow, November 14, 2011. Rosaviation came up with a list of airlines that were allowed to operate flights in the coming month, the Association of Russian Tour Operators reports. Meanwhile, the European Commission is planning to publish a black list of air carriers that will be forbidden to operate flights to Europe in the last ten days of November. At the moment, among the blacklisted companies are VIM-Avia, Tatarstan, Dagestan Airlines, and Yakutia. The ban was imposed after checks by the Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA). The date for lifting the temporary ban has not

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 14, 2011. The net debt of Enel OGK-5 amounted to 26.52bn RUR on Septeber 30, 2011, which exceeded the figures for 2010 by 6.31bn RUR. The company explains the increase in its net debt has to do with the capital expenses occasioned by the implementation of the company’s investment program for 2011. This information is available from the company’s financial report (drawn up in accordance with the International Accounting Standards) for the three quarters of 2011.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 11, 2011. Ural Mining & Metallurgical Company (UMMC) offered some comments on an emergency in the Czech Republic that left two BOD members of one of the company’s enterprises dead. An armed man, who was formerly employed by the company, entered the third floor of the Russian-Czech enterprise Aircraft Industries’ administrative building on November 10, 2011 and came into the room where the BOD meeting was being held at that moment. ‘During a break in the meeting, an armed and insane person assaulted the people in the room, killing two BOD members who were

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 11, 2011. Ural Airlines’ 7th Airbus A321 painted in company colors landed in Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg today. The arrival of the new plane was yet another step on the way to renovating the airline’s fleet of vehicles, the carrier’s press officer reports. The new plane arrived from Dublin, Ireland. This means the airline now operates twenty Airbus planes (thirteen A320 ones and seven A321 ones).

UrBC, Moscow, November 11, 2011. The net profit of UTair Airlines (calculated in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards) decreased by 1.5 times in January-September 2011 and came to 131.05m RUR against 202.32m RUR in January-September 2010, the company reports. At the same time, the air carrier’s revenues grew by 18% and amounted to 35.91bn RUR against 30.35bn RUR a year earlier. The company’s gross profit declined by 11.7% in the three quarters of 2011 and reached 1.39bn against 1.576bn a year earlier, RIA Novosti reports.

UrBC, Moscow, November 11, 2011. The tour operator Pegas Touristik is now offering fewer flights to Israel and the Dominican Republic as well as fewer seats on Kenya-bound flights, TourBusiness reports. The news of a reduction in the number of winter-time flights to Israel, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, and Thailand was announced by the Association of Russian Tour Operators this week. ‘The number of flights will go down noticeably only when two countries are concerned, that is, Israel and the Dominican Republic. As for Egypt and Thailand, the operator only canceled one flight out of several

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 11, 2011. Burger King is about to open its outlet in Yekaterinburg. The American fast food chain’s first restaurant will be launched downtown in December 2011, Molly.ru reports. Adwill acted as the exclusive broker between Shokoladnitza coffee house chain and Russ Burger, the franchise owner. Under the franchise agreement, Russ Burger was provided a 486 sq m location for the new restaurant in Malyshev St. The rent agreement is valid for the period of seven years.

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, November 14, 2011. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) keeps working on the production of new cold-rolled sheet products using the first section of its cold-roll Mill 2000. According to the company’s PR Department, the recent series of tests has shown that Mill 2000 can roll both the ordinary kinds of steel and the kinds with the lower reeling temperatures. The rolling of duplex steels was successful as well, just as that of highly durable DP600 and DP1200 steels (the latter was dealt with for the first time in Russia). In fact, only a few

Oblastnaya Gazeta and Interfax keep working on their financial project that can benefit the existing and potential customers of Sverdlovsk Region-based banks: Interfax-CEA (Center for Economic Analysis) came up with a ranking of regional banks based on their activity in nine months of 2011. According to these data, the performance indicators of most lending institutions went up in January-September 2011, whereas the assets of Yekaterinburg Municipal Bank and Tagilbank shrank. Uralfinance’s own funds decreased as well, and so did the volume of its private individuals’ savings. ‘In addition to

Tyumen Region Arbitration Court supported the ruling of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service regarding the price collusion between UTair and Yamal Airlines. The two companies are declared to reach a secret agreement on the price of tickets for Tyumen-Sochi-Tyumen flight, RIA Novosti reports. ‘The FAS looked into the fare documentation and came to the conclusion that UTair Aviation Company and Yamal Aviation Company set approximately equal prices for economy class tickets for Tyumen-Sochi-Tyumen flights. The price difference only came to 90 RUR,’ the FAS press service reports.

The filling station of Yekaterinburg-based Koltsovo Airport is once again launching a jet fuel price increase. Starting November 14, the price of the fuel will come to 31,150 RUR per ton, which is nearly 7% more expensive than the previous quotation. This is actually not the first time the airport has raised jet fuel prices this year. For one, the price went up by 4% on May 24, by 6% on August 9, by 4.4% on September 11, and by 2.6% on October 19, 2011. This means that the price of jet fuel will increase by 24% over the course of a year.

The cargo customs point at Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg is about to start operating twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. ‘Given the growing pace of economic development in Russia on the whole and in Ural Federal District and Sverdlovsk Region in particular, and given especially the foreign investors’ interest in the region and Yekaterinburg’s strategic location on the border of Europe and Asia, and given finally the fact that Koltsovo Airport is virtually the only international airport in Ural Federal District, we can predict that the

It is quite clear after the publication of Carlsberg’s quarterly report for the third quarter of 2011 why the concern decided to appoint a new head for its Russian asset Baltika Beer Company. In the said quarter, Carlsberg’s in-kind sales dropped by 3%, its revenues decreased by 1.5%, and its operational profits declined by 21%. The brewery blames the Russian market for this, as the sales plunged by 15% there and Baltika’s share of the market shrank by 2.5% and came to 36.8%, RBC daily reports.

UTair Aviation Company’s passenger airplane SGJ 200 had to perform an emergency landing at the airport of Urai, Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region, as its flaps failed to open, an officer from the district division of the Emergency Ministry told RIA Novosti. ‘It was announced that the airplane flying from Moscow to Urai did not manage to get the flaps open. There were four crew members and twenty-seven passengers on board,’ the officer explained. He said the Emergency Ministry staff and the town’s emergency service headed off for the airport at once. ‘The plane landed okay; no one was injured