TMK STEEL LIMITED reduced its share in Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) down to 26.24%, TMK reports. Prior to the sale, the company used to own 33.63% of Pipe Metallurgical Company’s shares.

The net loss of Severskiy Pipe Works (asset of Pipe Metallurgical Company/TMK) exceeded 1.22 billion RUR in 2009, whereas in 2008, the company made 1.4 billion RUR in profit. The company’s loss amounted to 330.66 million RUR in the third quarter of 2009 and to 218.59 million RUR in the fourth quarter of 2009. According to the plant’s official statement, the dropping profits had to do with reduced sales revenues, which, in their turn, were caused by shrinking sales volumes and declining prices. In addition, the company had to pay more in terms of loan interest.

The creditors of Pnevmostroymashina decided that the company should undergo bankruptcy proceedings and appointed Eduard Chu the company’s trustee in bankruptcy. This decision was taken at the creditors’ first meeting. According to Pnevmostroymashina’s official representative Pavel Anokhin, the creditors, who have over 96% of the votes, supported the company management’s proposal regarding bankruptcy proceedings and having Eduard Chu as the trustee in bankruptcy. The only person to disagree with the creditors’ opinion was the representative of Bank Société Générale Vostok. The decision taken

Ural Airlines informed the Ministry for International and Foreign Economic Relations of Sverdlovsk Region that the company was going to launch a scheduled flight from Yekaterinburg to Rome and back on May 2, 2010. The flight will be operated every Sunday. The Ministry reports Italy has been one of Sverdlovsk Region’s key economic partners for the last few years, so the current business and tourist ties between the two territories are bound to secure good demand for the flight.

‘A lot of work has to be done in preparation for the Saint Petersburg Dialogue forum,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. This forum used to be held in Germany or Saint Petersburg, but this time it will take place in Yekaterinburg for the first time. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of the Russian Federation Dmitriy Medvedev will meet to discuss issues related to education.

China Development Bank has not yet provided its loans to Sverdlovsk Region’s enterprises, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin announced at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. ‘To the best of my knowledge, the Chinese bank decided to offer six loans to Russian companies, but not a single one has been actually provided so far. Nevertheless, the decisions involving Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises still might be positive because the intermediary for this money transfer has already been determined. This is going to be Foreign Trade Bank (VTB). This bank has already got an

The volume of loans offered by Khanty-Mansiyskiy Bank to non-state, for-profit organizations for 91 to 180 days decreased by 50.4% in February 2010. The figures declined from 1,023,230,000 RUR on February 1, 2010 to 507,360,000, RUR on March 1, 2010. These data are available from the bank’s report uploaded on the Central Bank of Russia’s official website.

Italy is going to open a visa center in Yekaterinburg on April 2, 2010. The center will process applications for tourist, business, and student visas as well as for visas needed for business trips or family reunions, Interfax reports. According to the spokesperson for Italy’s National Tourist Office in the Russian Federation, Yekaterinburg’s visa center will accept applications from the dwellers of Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions and of Perm Territory. The center will charge every applicant 900 RUR for an application and 500 RUR to cover the transport fee; the money can be paid in

The volume of deposits opened by private individuals at Uralfinprombank for 181 days to 1 year plummeted by 100% in February 2010; the figures dropped from 2.836 million RUR on March 1, 2010 down to 0 RUR on March 1, 2010. These data are available from the bank’s report uploaded on the Central Bank of Russia’s official website.

VTB Group (headed by VTB, Russia’s second largest bank), cut back on its loans to businesses by 6.8% in 2009. The figures decreased down to 2.1 trillion RUR (if calculated in accordance with the IAS), RIA Novosti reports. VTB says the portfolio shrank due to the Russian companies’ declining demand. At the same time, the bank’s share of the retail market rose up to 10.2% in 2009 against 8.8% in 2008, the company reports. VTB Group’s retail lending portfolio grew by 12.5% last year and reached 435.3 billion RUR, which was a lot better than the market’s average.

OAO Gazpromneft-Ural’s profit decreased by 41.37% in the last quarter of 2009. The figures dropped from 255.04 million RUR in the third quarter of 2009 to 149.53 million RUR in the fourth quarter of 2009. The company repots the profits decreased due to declining oil prices.

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK)’s quality management system has been successfully certified for compliance with the STO Gazprom 9001:2006 standards recently. This was the second stage of the certification procedure; MMK underwent the preliminary audit procedure at the end of 2009; its quality management system was then tested for compliance with Gazprom’s standards through document checks and interviews with the employees. Now the STO Gazprom 9001:2006 committee kept inspecting MMK’s production shops and departments throughout last week. According to MMK PR Department, the audit

Ural Airlines is about to resume its summer flight to Spain. The Yekaterinburg-Barcelona flight will be operated twice a week, that is, every Tuesday and Saturday, between May 29, 2010 and October 2, 2010. The plane leaves Yekaterinburg at 5:05 AM and arrives in Barcelona at 7:15 AM. The flight lasts six hours and ten minutes. All the flights are operated on an A320 aircraft; the passengers can choose between economy and business class tickets. Ural Airlines is actually the only carrier to offer regular connection between the Urals and Spain.

Betfor concrete goods plant (LSR Group) Board of Directors suggested that the plant’s shareholders should decide not to pay the dividend for the year 2009. The annual general meeting has been scheduled for April 26, 2010.

The volume of deposits opened by private for-profit organizations at OOO Uralfinance Commercial Bank for 91 to 180 days decreased by 51% in February 2010. The figures dropped from 30.7 million RUR on February 1, 2010 to 15.027 million RUR on March 1, 2010. These data are available from the bank’s report uploaded on the Central Bank of Russia’s official website.

The volume of deposits opened by private individuals at VUZ-Bank for 91 to 180 days went down by 22% in February 2010; the figures dropped from 237.930 million RUR on February 1, 2010 to 185.532 million RUR on March 1, 2010. These data are available from the bank’s report uploaded on the Central Bank of Russia’s official website.

The streets of Yekaterinburg have recently been enlivened with a number of billboards featuring a baby whose back is used for snubbing out a cigarette. The image was completed with a slogan, ‘Smoking in children’s presence hurts them even worse. Don’t you care?’ This social service announcement drew great public attention, and the municipal authorities couldn’t help noticing it as well. ‘Yekaterinburg municipal council placed an official inquiry with the Moscow-based firm that was responsible for distributing the billboards in Yekaterinburg and asked to have the announcements removed,’ says

The Bank of Russia’s PR Department reports the bank’s authorized representatives have recently been directed to thirty-two Russian banks. The representatives will act in accordance with Article 76 of the Federal Bill on The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (the Bank of Russia). Among these thirty-two banks are Bank24.ru, Bank Severnaya Kazna, and Khanty-Mansiyskiy Bank.

OAO VSMPO-Avisma Corporation is no longer among the founder members of OOO Ural Gold Ore Mining Company. A short while ago, the corporation used to own a 51% shareholding in the mining business.

The participants and coordinators of a strike at Ford’s plant in Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad Region will have to sustain a disciplinary punishment, the spokesperson for Ford Motors Company informed RosBusinessConsulting. The company says the strike was illegitimate because the administration was only informed of the event within some very short time of the strike’s actual start. This preliminary strike of Ford’s workers began on March 25, 2010 (3 PM Moscow time). The plant’s employees want some changes in the enterprise’s collective agreement and a pay rise.