Central Bank of Russia reports volume of call loans given by VUZ-Bank to private individuals dropped by 32.63% (from 3.021 million RUR to 2.035 million RUR) in September 2008.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by UralTransBank to non-state for-profit organizations for up to 30 days went down by 28.67% (from 55.465 million RUR to 39.55 million RUR) in September 2008.

According to the enterprise’s report (compiled in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards), Maxi Group’s consolidated revenues resulting from sales came to 39.6 billion RUR in January-September 2008, which is 80.6% better than a year earlier. The company’s net profit reached 3.9 billion RUR, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier by 6.4%. At the same time, because the enterprise started producing more high value-added goods and due to the market’s changing needs, Maxi Group sold only 464,000 tons of steel feed and 113,000 tons of metalware, which falls short of the figures for

‘The financial recovery of Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank is being carried out within the framework of the state-run banking system support program and is already proving a success,’ says the spokesperson for SKB-Bank. ‘The efficiency of the recovery measures became evident when the lion’s share of the whole bulk of problems was solved on the very first day within singing the four-party agreement among Deposit Insurance Agency, Sinara Group, SKB-Bank, and Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank,’ the press officer added. ‘The bank cards are serviced without any impediments. The ATMs are full of enough cash to

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin met up with his deputies to discuss the measures aimed at fighting the economic crisis. The spokesperson for the Governor reports the meeting was also attended by the Minister for Economic Development Elena Murzina and the Minister for Industry and Natural Resources Evgeniy Teftelev. Upon the Governor’s request, these ministers chair the working teams on anti-crisis action plans for small and large enterprises. The performance of all the regional governmental departments related to support of the local economy is being coordinated by Deputy Governor

‘The complete closing down of all the investment projects is unlikely, but most of them will probably either be frozen or reconsidered for the time of the crisis,’ director of Severo-Zapad strategic projects fund Vladimir Knyaginin announced at the 3d interregional conference on the investment projects in the Greater Urals. ‘Projects like the one on the industrial development of the northern parts of the Urals (known as The Industrial Urals-The Polar Urals) were naturally targeted at the metallurgical sector. These enterprises, however, intend to freeze their investment projects for the time

The public prosecution authorities of Yekaterinburg’s Verkh-Isetskiy district carried out an inspection of two Yekaterinburg-based Auchan stores in Metallurgov St. and Khalturin St. The inspection was made on behalf of the regional public prosecution authorities and was targeted at checking the enterprise’s compliance with the consumer rights legislation after an application was made by a representative of Plenipotentiary Representatioon of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District. It was detected in the course of the inspection that the supermarket chain could be accused of

UniCredit Bank’s customers withdrew 4.07 billion RUR, or 13.4% of their total deposit volume in the bank in October 2008. The data were provided by Kommersant on the basis of Moscow-based and provincial banks’ turnover balance sheets.

Raiffeisen-Bank’s customers withdrew 13.64 billion RUR, or 12.6% of their total deposit volume in the bank in October 2008. The data were provided by Kommersant on the basis of Moscow-based and provincial banks’ turnover balance sheets.

Moscow, 13 November 2008 – UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium and alumina producer, is pleased to announce the appointment of Sergey Belsky as its Director of Sales. Sergey Belsky will be responsible for the marketing and sales of the company’s wide product mix including aluminium, alumina, silicon, and foil to the international markets in Asia, America, Europe, and the CIS. He will also develop long-term relationships with existing clients, whilst searching for new sales opportunities and strengthening UC RUSAL’s ties with domestic and international end-users of its products. Sergey

UralBusinessConsulting Agency of Information and Analytics’ own sources report that a customer might have been found for Bank Severnaya Kazna’s controlling shareholding. This could actually turn out to be the Moscow Bank for Reconstruction and Development, to which the bank’s BOD Chairman Vladimir Frolov might sell his 22.5% shareholding. In addition, a number of the bank’s minor stockholders might offer their shares to the Moscow Bank for Reconstruction and Development. As a result, the latter is expected to acquire control over Bank Severnaya Kazna. According to the source, the

The net profit of Concern Kalina, the major beauty products and household chemicals manufacturer, dropped by 70%, or 3.3 times, over nine months of 2008. The calculations were made in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards, and the figure came to 100.737 million RUR compared with 336.093 million RUR a year earlier, the company reports. The company’s sales figures reached 6,404,500,000 RUR in January-September 2008, which is 14% better than a year earlier, its gross profit amounted to 3,487,900,000 RUR, which exceeded the figures for a year earlier by 19%.

URSA Bank made $15.6m million worth of coupon payments on its Eurobonds issue; the annual coupon interest rate came to 9%. The bank went through with the $351m bonds issue in May 2006; the bonds are to be in circulation for three years; the issue was carried out by Sibacademfinance Plc (now known as URSA Finance PLС) and coordinated by ABN Amro and Citigroup. The buy-back was launched in September 2008, and over $100m worth of bonds had already been bought back by November.

The rumors related to Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) offering a large shareholding for sale have no factual ground, says the enterprise’s spokeswoman Elena Azovtseva. Things started when one of the country’s information agency’s newswires published a piece of news related to the possible acquisition of MMK’s assets by a new investor, possibly Gazprom and Rosoboronexport (the latter dealing mainly in export of arms and weaponry and having no assets). The news was placed under the Gossip heading and was probably brought about by the difficult time MMK was having because of the global

Moscow, 12 November 2008 – At its regular meeting yesterday, the Board of Directors of UC RUSAL, which owns a 25% plus two shares stake in Norilsk Nickel, discussed preparations for the Extraordinary General Meeting of Norilsk Nickel’s shareholders, which has been scheduled for 26 December 2008 to elect a new Board of Norilsk Nickel. UC RUSAL’s shareholders raised several concerns about the situation at Norilsk Nickel, notably in relation to Interros withdrawing cash from the company which has resulted in a worsening of the company’s financial situation set against the background of the fall

Starting November 13, 2008, Ural Airlines is going to react to the decreased jet fuel prices in Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg by reducing the fuel fees for chartered flights to Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh by 77%. Passengers flying to Egypt from Yekaterinburg via the carrier’s A320 aircraft will only have to pay $3 in terms of the fuel fee, the airline’s press officer reports. The company last introduced the fuel fee changes on November 10, 2008 when the fee was reduced down to $10.

Standard & Poor’s, the international rating agency, demoted the corporate governance rating of TGK-9, a large power supplier, from 4+ to 4 and called it off at the same time. The Russian scale rating was also reduced from 4.8 to 4.4 and called off upon the company’s request. ‘TGK-9 corporate governance rating was limited by a pronounced decrease in the efficiency of the checks and balances system within the company’s BOD after the organization went through a restructuring process in 2007 and 2008. The influence of the new majority shareholder (KES) is now not counterbalanced properly. In

Deposit Insurance Agency, the state corporation, reports that an agreement to merge Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank, SKB-Bank, and Yekaterinburg-based Sinara Group on November 11, 2008. The agreement is to determine the order and the terms of the involved parties’ interaction while trying to prevent Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank from going bust. The agreement is based on the Federal Bill 175 as of October 27, 2008 on the additional measures meant to support the Russian banking system’s stability until December 31, 2011. The federal bill provides for the Deposit Insurance Agency’s participation in the

According to Interfax-CEA’s ranking for January-September 2008, fourteen Ural Federal District-based banks happened to make it to the country’s Top 100. The ranking was based on the banks’ deposit volume, and, remarkably, all the Ural banks that made it to the ranking were able to improve on this indicator over the given period. SKB-Bank actually experienced the greatest increase in the private individuals’ deposit volume among these fourteen banks, with the rise coming to 56.9%, Interfax-CEA reports.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank Uralfinance to legal entities for 31 to 90 days plummeted by 95.16% (from 2.686 million RUR to 130,000 RUR) in September 2008.