The public prosecution authorities of Kushva, Sverdlovsk Region, are now checking the compliance with the safety regulations at OAO Vysokogorsky Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (VGOK) Yuzhnaya mine. The inspection was organized after an accident occurred on the premises of the mine on November 16, 2010. A massive chunk of rock mass fell upon the scaffolds where two miners were working; as a result, one of them got a bad bruise on his head, while the other got injured very seriously and passed away at a hospital later. Kushva’s public prosecutor has by now arrived at the scene of the

‘We can only welcome more Finnish businesses in the Mid-Urals,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin said at his meeting with Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen. The Minister arrived in Sverdlovsk Region as the head of a special delegation made up of some 150 representatives of the Finnish business community. The Governor declared he was glad to see more Finnish companies arrive in the Mid-Urals and said he believed the region and the Finnish businesses needed more joint ventures, including those in the field of innovations, transportation,

Alchrome Enterprises Limited announced recently that it had bought a 91.55% shareholding in OAO Klyuchevsky ferrous alloys plant (Rosspetssplav Management Company). The enterprise never used to be Sverdlovsk Region-based company’s stockholder before. It was also reported at the same time that OOO Nezavisimy Registrator which used to own this 91.55% holding is now longer one of Klyuchevsky plant’s shareholders.

Over twenty Chinese companies are going to take part in the upcoming Mining Business exhibition in Yekaterinburg, vice-chief of the Harbin department on trade Van Inun announced at a meeting in Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of International & Foreign Economic Relations. Apart from the Chinese enterprises, Harbin’s four free economic zones are also going to present their stands at the exhibition. The agenda of the event provides for talks, presentations, and experience-sharing. Given Sverdlovsk Region’s high potential, the Chinese party is interested not only in trading options but also in

Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service decided to annul the licenses allowing OOO Eurogreen Investment & Finance Company to deal in brokerage and dealership operations, management of securities, and depositary operations in the capacity of a professional stock market player. The licenses, registered as No. 166-10513-100000 (brokerage),166-10514-010000 (dealership), 166-10515-001000 (securities), and 166-10518-000100 (depositary transactions), were all issued on September 6, 2007. The Service reports the decision was taken after the company had violated the Russian securities

Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg might complete the process of handing its shares over to Sverdlovsk Region early in 2011, the region's Minister for State Property Management Vladimir Levchenko said at Sverdlovsk Region Duma recent sitting. The minister confirmed that the regional authorities would like to obtain the airport's controlling shareholding in the future. Vladimir Levchenko first voiced the ministry's intention to get 40% of Koltsovo Airport's shares as early as a year ago, in December 2010.

The net loss of UC RUSAL's Polevskoy cryolite plant (calculated in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards) rose by 2.2 times over January to September 2010 compared with January-September 2009, that is, up to 192.645 million RUR, the company's report states. The plant's revenues increased by 10% and reached 613.842 million RUR. According to the report, the increased losses were brought about by the dropping demand for the plant's produce.

Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service found Evraz Group's Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works (NTMK) guilty of violating the existing Competition Protection Act. The Service claims that NTMK set monopolistic prices for its ZET-310 section products, with prices differing for different groups of consumers, RBC daily reports. The enterprise is now facing a fine which might amount to anything between 1% and 15% of its turnover. According to the Antimonopoly Service, NTMK made 10% to 200% of profit on the product in question, while the difference in prices set for different customer

Germany's Internal Affairs Ministry was forced to halt the construction of the Consulate-General in Yekaterinburg because of the economic recession. The building was originally supposed to have been finished by 2013, Kommersant says. 'The Ministry was faced with the need to economize six months ago. We avoided putting the project on the construction of the consulate on our expense-cutting list till the last minute, but, regrettably, the decision had to be made to freeze it. I personally feel very negative about it, and this is what I told our Russian partners,' the newspaper

The international rating agency announced that Concern Kalina's ruA- national scale rating was not going to change after the cosmetics manufacturer had sold its 100% shareholding in the German Dr. Scheller Cosmetics AG to Coty. Standard & Poor's reports the German affiliated company used to be the source of 30% of Kalina's sales but of less than 10% of EBITDA prior to the sale of the shares. 'We don't think the transaction will affect Kalina's liquidity indicators either, since the company is gradually cutting down on the share of short-term debts in the

Acting Leading Manager of OAO Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) cold-rolling facility’s plate mill shop 11 group Andrei Gorbunov presented his report on MMK’s current production priorities at a recent conference on metal goods for the automobile industry held in Moscow. According to the company executive, one of MMK’s strategic challenges lies in setting up in Russia the automobile body sheet production which will meet all the global standards. This is why the company is currently involved in the construction of cold rolling Mill 2000 in cooperation with the German company SMS Demag.

Chairman of OAO Bank24.ru Sergey Lapshin believes there is no point in engaging in corporate lending in Russia in the next two or three years. This is what he said in the course of Elena Ischeeva’s Top People program broadcast via Banki.ru. ‘Three years ago, I could get money for, say, 15% a year and offer my customers a loan with an annual interest rate of 25%, which meant my margins would reach 10% a year. Let’s take a ten-billion lending portfolio, for instance. I knew that I’d make a billion worth of margins in a year on these ten billions,’ he explains. Now, however, the economic

ZAO Raiffeisenbank’s outlet known as Plotinka at 31 K Malyshev St no longer operates in Yekaterinburg. ‘To let’ announcements regarding the building can already be found on the Internet. The bank has also closed its Na Kosmonavtov office at 21 Kuznetsov St in Ordzhonikidzevsky district of Yekaterinburg. Now Raiffeisenbank’s centrally located Plotinka office had operated for two and a half years. The outlet got its name from a café called Plotinka which used to be located in the building.

Holiday Inn, the famous hotel chain, is now negotiating for a land allotment in Yekaterinburg to put up a hotel there. According to some data, the hotel might be located in a multi-purpose block commonly referred to as Summit at 51a Vosmoye Marta St. It is reported that Summit is to be launched in March 2011. Holiday Inn Hotels first announced they were planning on building their hotel in Yekaterinburg as early as 2007.

OAO Ural Airlines is about to welcome its 1,500,000th passenger of the year aboard. ‘We only needed a few extra days to set a record last year, but in this year 2010 we did manage to break it. This was possible due to an extended destination network. Last year, we operated quite a few flights from Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Novokuznetsk, and Sochi. What is more, we were the third largest carrier in terms of the number of flights operated from Domodedovo Airport in Moscow,’ the airline’s press service reports. Ural Airlines’ experts have calculated that the company’s 1,500,000th passenger will be

VTB Bank denies buying Home Credit & Finance Bank despite the claims made by the owner of Tinkoff Credit Systems Oleg Tinkoff via his Twitter account, RIA Novosti says. ‘VTB Bank cannot confirm any acquisition of this kind. These are only rumors,’ VTB Finance Director Herbert Moos asked the bank’s press service to state. Now Home Credit & Finance Bank’s controlling shareholder the Czech Republic’s PPF Investments Group also said that it was not going to comment on ‘market gossip’.

OOO Lardo Electronics Company has recently been declared a dishonest supplier. The statement was made by Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service. The reason for labeling the company so harshly was that Lardo Electronics backed out of its earlier agreement with B.N.Yeltsin Ural Federal University which provided for the delivery of a laptop and computer parts and components worth 129,350 RUR altogether.

Sberbank of Russia placed a petition with Belgorod Region Arbitration Court, asking to stop the bankruptcy proceedings which ZAO Energomash (part of Energomash Group) is undergoing at the moment. Instead, the bank wants the company to get a new, external manager/trustee in bankruptcy, Russia’s Legal & Court Information Agency (RAPSI) reports. Now Belgorod Region Arbitration Court ruled on January 19, 2010 that Belgorod-based ZAO Energomash was to undergo bankruptcy proceedings. The bankruptcy application was actually placed with the court by Bank VTB. On May 24, 2010 Energomash was

The revenues of OOO VIZ-Stal (the asset of Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works, NTMK) went down by 15% in the third quarter of 2010 compared with the previous quarter. The plant explains their financial performance in the third quarter had to with shrinking product sales. The plant’s revenues decreased by 26% over one year, which was a result of lower prices for rolled products for the electric industry. The company’s gross profit plunged by 21% in the third quarter of 2010 and by 63% over the year. ‘Another reason our gross profit decreased against the earlier periods was that the hot-rolled

OAO VympelCom insists that no violations of the contract occurred when their customer lawyer Ivan Kadochnikov was provided with Internet access. ‘Our company always sticks with the terms of the company-customer agreements. If Mr. Kadochnikov pays for the speed of 25 Mb per second, he will be provided with Internet connection at exactly this speed. His complaint will be considered by VympelCom as soon as possible. We intend to check the speed of Internet connection at his computer, and, if the actual speed turns out to be different from that stated in the contract, VympelCom will make sure the