The Economic News Agency compiled a political influence rating for the Russian entrepreneurs and investors valid for the first quarter of 2010. The agency was asked to create this rating by Nezavisimaya Gazeta. The ranking method for creating a list of Russia’s Top 50 Most Influential Entrepreneurs & Investors has remained the same as before. Thirty-seven experts looked into the degree of 104 candidates’ political influence using a scale of 0 to 5, with 0-1 signifying minimal influence, 1-2 standing for weak influence, 2-3 standing for average influence, 3-4 standing for strong influence,

The net profit of OAO Urals’ Interregional network distribution company (MRSK Urala) plunged by 393.834 million RUR, or 87.72% over three months. The figures declined from 448.968 million RUR in the last quarter of 2009 to 55.134 million RUR in the first quarter of 2010. The company explains they had to set up 673 million RUR worth of doubtful receivables reserve in order to make up for the writing off of doubtful debt that had not been paid in due time and had not been provided with any collateral, guarantee, or bank security.

The net profit of OAO TGK-9, the power generating company, dropped by 54.15% in the first quarter of 2010. The company’s net profit reached 1.48 billion RUR in the last three months of 2009 but only amounted to 681.17 million RUR in January-March 2010. According to TGK-9, the drop in profits was caused by the cost amortization that followed the re-assessment of the company’s key assets on January 1, 2010. In addition, the power generating enterprise had to create assessment reserves to make up for the heating bills not paid by their customers.

The net profit of OAO Sverdlovenergosbyt went down by 47.718 million RUR, or 23.52% in January-March 2010. The figures dropped from 202.917 million RUR in the fourth quarter of 2009 down to 155.199 million RUR in the first quarter of 2010. The main reason the profits declined was uneven distribution of payments on the energy-purchasing agreements signed for the year 2010, the company reports. Under these agreements, the average price for the first three months of the year is generally higher than the year’s average price.

The Russian Federation Industry &Trade Ministry recently added more car makes to the list of automobiles that will be sold with a 50,000 RUR discount under the government’s car recycling program. The list now comprises seventy-nine instead of sixty-six models. The Ministry’s order to this extent was carried in Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Among the new car makes available under the program are Volkswagen Group Rus’s Volkswagen Passat, Skoda Yeti, and Skoda Superb as well as Peugeot 308 and Citroen C4 that will be manufactured by the new joint venture PSA Peugeot Citroen and Mitsubishi. There are

Integra Group, the O&G machinery manufacturing and maintenance company, saw a 42.2% drop in revenues in 2009; the figures plummeted down to $836.2m due to sagging demand for O&G maintenance services, the group’s report states. The enterprise’s net loss reached $118.9m last year. At the same time, the company’s EBITDA margin rose to 13.1% as a result of the company’s cost-cutting efforts throughout the year. Also, Integra’s free cash flow was on the rise, which made it possible for the company to reduce the amount of borrowed funds to $175.4m.

Central Yekaterinburg Department of Rospotrebnadzor’s (the state consumer rights watchdog) Sverdlovsk Region division looked into the activity of ZAO Space Motors based at 77 Zavodskaya St. in Yekaterinburg. The activity of the dealer selling Ssang Yong automobiles had to be investigated due to a number of customer complaints. It was detected in the course of the inspection that the dealer actually violated the existing consumer rights legislation in that a 3% commission was withheld by the seller if a customer wished to take the car back to the shop and get a refund. Upon revealing this

OAO Uralmashzavod’s debt to creditors reached 1.7 billion RUR at the end of 2009; this figures included 79.9 million RUR to be paid to the budget. The machine-building plant’s pre-tax book loss amounted to 1.2 billion RUR in January-December 2009. These data were provided by Sverdlovsk Region Union of Machine-Building Enterprises, of which OAO Uralmashzavod is a member. At the same time, the plant had nothing in terms of accounts receivable in January-December 2009.

ZAO StarBank is leaving Sverdlovsk Region’s market and is going to close down its Yekaterinburg representation in the nearest future, the bank informed UrBC. All of the bank’s local employees will have to be made redundant. The bank’s office in Yekaterinburg is currently located at 44 Kraul St. The representation is run by Svetlana Vaganova.

The net profit of OAO Surgutneftegaz decreased by 15,057,652,000 RUR, or 64.27% in three months; the figures dropped from 23,428,033,000 RUR in the last quarter of 2009 down to 8,370,381,000 RUR in the first quarter of 2010. Surgutneftegaz is one of Russia’s largest oil and gas enterprises and produces 13% of all the oil and 25% of all the natural gas extracted within the country.

OAO Pnevmostroymashina’s debt to creditors reached 847.1 million RUR in January-December 2009; this figures included 34 million RUR to be paid to the budget. The company’s pre-tax book loss amounted to 339.4 million RUR in January-December 2009. These data were provided by Sverdlovsk Region Union of Machine-Building Enterprises, of which OAO Pnevmostroymashina is a member. Also, the enterprise is to get 212.9 million RUR in terms of accounts receivable for January-December 2009.

OAO UTair Airline denies any allegations as to the company being offered for sale. ‘The rumors that the air carrier is now offered for sale have no factual grounds whatsoever: we are not planning on selling the business either in parts or as a whole, and not one of UTair’s managers took part in any negotiations to this extent,’ the airline says. Meanwhile, Kommersant carried an article on the company’s prospective sale. For one, the newspaper claimed the airline was negotiating with five potential buyers, among whom were Moscow Government, Lufthansa, Aeroflot, and Siberia Airlines.

VUZ-Bank (Life Financial Group’s asset) BOD decided not to distribute any profit for the year 2009 because no profit whatsoever was actually made last year. The bank’s Board of Directors suggested that the shareholders also decide not to pay any dividends for 2009 at the AGM. The final decision will be taken and the annual general meeting on May 21, 2010.

The BOD of Yekaterinburg-based oil plant suggested that the stockholders vote for passing last year’s dividends at the upcoming AGM. The stockholders’ annual general meeting has been scheduled for May 31, 2010. Apart from the issue of the dividends, the shareholders will also have to consider profit and loss distribution in the financial year 2009 and to approve a number of agreements signed with the framework of the loan at interest taken from OOO RusAgro Group.

OAO LSR Group, whose business activity involves a number of projects in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Region, might end up attracting some $100m less than expected in the course of its SPO. In fact, at the close of the sign-up session, the Group had to reduce the stock price by over 12%, that is, down to $8.5 to $9.5 per GDR, Vedomosti reports. So OAO LSR, Saint Petersburg’s major builder, declared that GDRs would be offered to the investors at $8.5 to $9.5 per receipt or at $42.5 to $47.5 per share (one share being equal to five GDRs). The total amount of investment should thus reach $667m, with

Sverdlovsk Region Government, Yekaterinburg Municipal Council, and RUDEA (the Russian-German energy agency) signed a cooperation agreement. The agreement provides for the three parties’ long-term and mutually beneficent cooperation in the field of energy-saving and energy efficiency in Sverdlovsk Region and Yekaterinburg. The agreement also covers a number of investment projects. The paper was signed by the region’s Communal Housing Services Minister Yuri Shevelev, Deputy Mayor of Yekaterinburg for Communal Housing Services and Housing Policy Konstantin Krynin, and RUDEA’s General Director

Yekaterinburg dwellers who have been oppressed by ZAO Russian Standard Bank can now call a hot line number provided by the local division of Russia’s Young Lawyers. The number is +7 (343) 362-83-06, the organization’s representative in Ural Federal District Evgeniy Ryakin said to an UrBC reporter. ‘This hot line will be available for as long as will be necessary; we intend to deal with calls and institute legal proceedings against the bank,’ he explained. Ryakin reports the hot line was organized in order to prevent the scenario of Nizhniy Tagil, Sverdlovsk Region. Now Nizhniy Tagil’s

Sverdlovsk Region Court supported the verdict of Yekaterinburg Leninskiy District Court returned on March 4, 2010. The district court declared that, based on the evidence provided by the prosecution, the accused, a Yekaterinburg-based firm’s trustee in bankruptcy Zurab Kharbediya, should be sentenced to two years in a penal settlement. Kharbediya was found guilty of abuse of power (Article 201 (part 2) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code). It was determined that Zurab Kharbediya used his authority to organize the company’s bankruptcy proceedings for financial fraud. Namely, two

The national rating agency is about to recall OAO AKB Avangard’s credit rating as the two parties’ agreement expired on April 16, 2010. RusRating is one of the national rating agencies whose ratings are used by the Bank of Russia to assess the banks’ business solvency.

OAO Bank Petrovskiy Board of Directors decided not to pay the dividend for the year 2009 on common registered or preferred registered stock.