‘Unfortunately, Russian Railways Public Company’s investment project had to be downsized by 40% compared with the year before,’ President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin said in the course of a briefing on the company’s investment program in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk Region. ‘So now we are not asking to support our investment program so that the money could disappear in people’s pockets. We are asking for help because we are positive that aid to the country’s backbone enterprises is an effective economic tool,’ he added.

McDonald’s is currently negotiating with Yekaterinburg municipal council for a number of land allotments to put up their cafes there, Deputy Mayor Viktor Konteev’s press officer Ilona Starodubtseva reports. The company currently runs three cafes located in Yekaterinburg’s shopping malls. ‘They asked for six or seven allotments, with four of their applications approved already. Each allotment is about 1,000 square meters in size,’ she adds.

Uralsevergaz announced recently that they were going to limit their natural gas supplies to Uralvagonzavod. ‘The reason for imposing these limitations is a great amount of overdue debt. Uralvagonzavod still hasn’t paid us for the natural gas the enterprise has already consumed; nor are they trying to pay off their debts. The company owes us 305 million RUR at the moment, with the sum rising by another 150 million RUR by the end of April,’ the spokesperson for Uralsevergaz explained to an UrBC reporter. The gas supplier did promise, however, that the limitations would not affect Nizhniy

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin met the Consul General of Hungary in Ekaterinburg Pal Fabian. According to the spokesperson for the Governor, the agenda of their meeting covered issued like Chelyabinsk Region and Hungary’s cooperation in the field of economics, agriculture, and culture. The two parties started working together in 2006 when Sumin visited Budapest as a member of a Russian delegation headed by (then President) Vladimir Putin. Then, a cooperation agreement was signed by Chelyabinsk Region and one of Hungary’s major regions in October 2008. As far as agriculture is

The holders of the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s Visa Gold card can now win an unforgettable trip to Tokyo if they take part in the bank’s Taste of New Life special offer. All one has to do is use one’s Visa card to pay for at least 1,000 RUR worth of shopping between May 1, 2009 and July 31, 2009. Twenty special prizes (35,000 RUR in one’s bank card account) are provided, and the main prize is a holiday for two in Tokyo. Each bank card transaction improves one’s chances, the bank’s press officer reports. The prize drawing has been scheduled for August 20, 2009.

Uralsvyazinform might quit its membership in the CDMA Network Operators Association. This issue has been placed on the agenda of the annual general meeting by the company’s BOD. The AGM is to take place on June 4, 2009 in Perm.

Alexei Degai is no longer employed in the capacity of Severskiy Pipe Plant’s (Pipe Metallurgical Company, or TMK) CEO. According to the spokesperson for TMK, Degai, who had been running the business for many years, chose to resign for personal reasons. He will be succeeded by former Technical Director Mikhail Zuev.

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court keeps looking into the claim laid by Tyumen Avto Holding Company against Alliance Motor Yekaterinburg. The plaintiff insists on the defendant paying them 2.76 million RUR and wants their earlier purchase and sale agreement to be declared void. Therefore the 2,233,500 RUR paid for Toyota LC 200 UZJ200L-GNAEKWTK (VIN-JTMNT05J904025192) (invoice ОПА08-52798108/1 as of October 27, 2008) must be paid back, alongside with the 500,000 RUR worth of damages, 28,717 RUR worth of cancellation penalty, and the state duty. Tyumen Avto Holding Company has earlier asked

‘Nizhniy Tagil’s largest enterprise Uralvagonzavod owes Uralsevergaz 305 million RUR (overdue debt included). Our other ‘chronic’ debtor’s (Tagilenergo) debt comes to 234 million RUR,’ Uralsevergaz’s press officer Oleg Vlasov said to an UrBC reporter. ‘We haven’t imposed any sanctions on the debtors as of yet. However, we do have to pay for natural gas transportation in full before May 1, 2009 (because of the ten-day state holiday), so we strongly recommend that Uralvagonzavod, Tagilenergo, and Nizhniy Tagil’s municipal council do try and pay off as much as they can as soon as possible,’ he

The net profit of Uralelectromontazh dropped by 28.009 million RUR (or 98.55%), that is, from 28.421 million RUR in the previous quarter to 412,000 RUR this quarter. The company reports the decrease in net profit has to do with the smaller amount of electric work performed by them.

The authorities are currently interrogating the management of Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Bank of Russia’s Main Administration. The inquiries have to do with the disappearance of 955.8 million RUR from Bank VEFK Ural. ‘The inquiry involves the top executives and a number of other employees, since the money vanished during the Central Bank’s scheduled inspection of Bank VEFK Ural. The investigative team had to question these employees’ work ethics. One cannot help wondering why the inspectors never noticed that such an impressive sum of money had disappeared out of Russian Retirement

‘Our company is going trough a difficult time at the moment: the natural gas consumption plummeted in the first quarter of the year, and our consumers owe increasingly more money to us,’ says GAZEX CEO Denis Pasler. In the meantime, the company has promised earlier to invest 110 million RUR in gas network overhauls.

The Russian Federation Federal Insurance Supervision Service decided to suspend the license issued to Uralros Insurance Company (based in Yekaterinburg with file number № 0599, С № 0599 66). The decree (number 174), signed by the Service’s Head Alexander Koval, has already come into force. Uralros Insurance Company is one of Union of Russian Car Insurers members that refused to join the direct loss refund system. The company therefore did not pay its membership fees in the third quarter of 2008 and failed to answer any of the Union’s queries. The company thus came to owe the Union 1.11

Uralfinprombank’s Board of Directors suggested that the annual shareholder meeting should result in the bank’s stockholders doing away with the development fund, the savings fund, and the consumption fund set up earlier. In addition, the bank’s Supervisory Board suggested that the stockholders decide to pass the dividend in the course of the meeting (scheduled for May 15, 2009).

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin spoke rather bitterly of Katav-Ivanovskiy mechanical plant at a board meeting today. According to the spokesperson for the Governor, Petr Sumin asked the district head Boris Molokov to be more active in controlling the trouble, while the Ministry for Industry and Natural Resources was requested to send their representative onto the plant’s premises in order to get a clearer view of things. ‘We can’t let the production process stop or the company be destroyed, and we need to put forth stricter demands as far as the business owners are concerned, as

Banc of America Securities - Merrill Lynch has recently resumed looking into Severstal, Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), and Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK)’s performance, Interfax reports. According to the bank’s analysts Eduard Faritov, Stanislav Gorozhankin, and Jason Fairclough, MMK’s shares are most investor-attractive at the moment, so they suggest buying those. At the same time, Severstal’s shares had better be sold, and NLMK’s shares would be better off when put on a shelf for a while. ‘The loss of Severstal’s U.S.-based assets has affected the company’s overall

Concern Kalina (Russia’s major mass market cosmetics manufacturer) is currently going through significant shareholder structure changes. For one, Tarlot Holdings Limited no longer has a share in the company’s capital after its 24.98% shareholding has been sold. On the other hand, HSBC Bank Plc acquired 7.08% of the business’s shares and is now Kalina’s new shareholder. What is more, the shareholdings of Citigroup Global Markets Limited and GEMOF Russia Portfolio (Cyprus) Limited increased from 3.82% to 8.72% and from 2.75% to 5.07%, respectively.

Bank Petrokommerz’s Stock Market Operations Department came up with an analysis of LSR Group’s financial report for 2008. ‘One could say that the results of the business’s performance last year look plainly disastrous. The company sustained about 8 billion RUR worth of losses (compare this with the similar profit figures a year earlier), although its revenues rose by nearly 40% (up to 49 billion RUR) and its gross profits went up by 50% (up to over 18 billion RUR). However, the Group’s operating loss still amounted to 5.4 billion RUR,’ the department reports. ‘Nevertheless, the drop in

‘The claims made by Koltsovo Airport’s press officer Yulia Fedotova to Ura.ru are not true and can even be seen as slanderous,’ the spokesperson for Ural Airlines said to an UrBC reporter. Apparently, Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg is currently dispersing the information about the poor quality of meals offered by the airline on board. ‘We are now cooperating with another airport in terms of some of the catering services. This new partner has got all the necessary certificates, and the goods are delivered on board in the vacuum-sealed factory packaging. We don’t offer our passengers any

URSA Bank made 150.33 million RUR worth of payments on its fifth bond issue coupon on April 21, 2009. According to the spokesperson for the bank, the annual coupon yield was determined at 10.05% so 50.11 RUR was paid per each bond. URSA Bank went through with the three-billion-ruble bond issue (file number 40500323 В) on October 24, 2006; the bonds are to be in circulation for five years. The issue was coordinated by Gazprombank and Citibank.