Chelyabinsk-based AGROPROMPROEKT doubled the volume of its design and exploration work in 2007 compared with 2006, the company’s BOD Chairman Yakov Nevelev said to UrBC. AGROPROMPROEKT was set up in 1958 and has remained one of the strong players on the design and engineering services market ever since. The organization deals in town-planning, reconstruction of buildings, engineering infrastructure design, and technical measurements and examination of existing buildings. AGROPROMPROEKT won a number of medals for settlement layouts, a diploma in the Best Designing Organization category in

Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch is to introduce the Urals’ first automated safety vault in Yekaterinburg on February 13, 2008. The vault is to be located at Sberbank’s office No.11 at 27 Vosmoye Marta St. The new self-service safe deposit will be available 24/7. One can use a special identification card (provided by the bank when a customer rents an individual vault) to get into the room, whereupon one’s individual vault is delivered into the terminal from the armored storage facility. One can take care of all one’s valuables inside the terminal, and then the vault is automatically

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Bank URALSIB to state-run for-profit organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 60% (from 50 million RUR to 20 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

According to the National Managers’ League’s ranking of unit investment trusts as of February 6, 2008, the share price of Raiffeisen Telecommunications (Raiffeisen Capital Management Company) has dropped by 18.90% since the beginning of the year.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 40.53% (from 223.927 million RUR to 133.172 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

The weekly Finance magazine looked into Russia’s mortgage-lending market in 2007 and picked out fifty largest banks (excluding Sberbank) that offered their customers some 170,000 mortgages last year, with the average loan coming to about 2.5 million RUR (figures differ greatly for capital and provincial banks, however). As for Yekaterinburg-based SKB-Bank, the company offered a borrower an average of 1.3 million RUR in the form of mortgages. SKB-Bank was featured in the magazine’s rating of Top 30 Mortgage-Giving Banks; in 2007, the bank built up its mortgage portfolio by 57% against the year

The value of net assets of Energy - Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by 2.04% between February 5, 2008 and February 6, 2008. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 3,057,375.77 RUR on February 5, 2008 to 2,994,898.54 RUR on February 6, 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Universal Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 1 to 3 years went down by 100% (from 8.028 million RUR to zero) in December 2007-January 2008.

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) looked at the results of its activity in January 2008. The company produced 120,600 tons of ore (which falls short of the previous January’s figures by 22.3%), 932,800 tons of agglomerate (which exceeds the figures for January 2007 by 5.1%), 496,500 tons of coke (which is 9% better than a year earlier), and 874,500 tons of cast iron (which is 7.2% better than a year earlier) in the first month of 2008. The company was able to produce more than 1.2 million tons of steel a month for the first time over the last fifteen years, MMK’s PR Department

SKB-Bank lowered the interest rates on mortgages it offers to those who’d like to buy an apartment currently under construction rather than on the existing home market. Depending on the type of the collateral and the size of the down payment, the interest rate now varies between 15% and 16% a year. Besides, one can now get a loan without any collateral when one’s future dwelling is still being built. All the details regarding the conditions of this mortgage are available from the bank’s website as well as over the phone (you may call up SKB-Bank’s Contact Center or any of its offices). These

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Pervouralsk Joint Stock Commercial Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations despite overdraft went down by 100% (from 5.653 million RUR to zero) in December 2007-January 2008.

The value of net assets of Energy - Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by .17% between February 4, 2008 and February 5, 2008. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 3,062,562.43RUR on February 4, 2008 to 3,057,375.77 RUR on February 5, 2008.

'We do not intend to take over Aviaprad. This would not be an advantageous deal for us, so this has nothing to do with our policies, but a lot to do with the economic issues,’ Ural Airlines’ General Director Sergey Skuratov announced at a recent press conference in Yekaterinburg. However, Ural Airlines and Aviaprad did sign an agreement, according to which Aviaprad closes down while Ural Airlines takes on the responsibilities related to servicing most of Aviaprad’s passengers who bought tickets for the flights to be operated between February 11, 2008 and December 31, 2008. Mr. Skuratov

'Both Russia and the whole world are facing two major risks: firstly, the falling oil prices, and secondly, the inflation in Russia. These are the two things that are going to affect the Russian economy most,’ URSA Bank’s First Deputy GD Vladislav Khokhlov said to UrBC. 'This is why a bank deposit is a guarantee that your money will be protected from the inflation, yet it hardly brings you any profit because last year’s inflation rate as well as this year’s one are quite high (and reach between 10% and 12%). These figures are totally comparable with what the private banks offer in

According to the profitability ranking of unit investment trusts as of February 4, 2008, the share prices of one of Alfa Capital Management Company’s trusts has gone down by 12.40% since the beginning of the year.

Yekaterinburg Consumer Rights Committee reports they received three complaints related to automobile breakdowns due to poor quality gasoline in January 2008. In two out of the three complaints, the car owners blamed Yekaterinburgnefteprodukt. One of the drivers claims his car broke down due to excessive soluble gum content in the gasoline he bought at this company’s gas station, the other reports the gas did not meet the governmental standards - again, because of excessive soluble gum content.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to sole traders for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 73.43% (from 31.588 million RUR to 8.385 million RUR) in January-December 2007.

A roller-hearth furnace was launched again after a major overhaul at Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (part of ChTPZ Group). The furnace is meant for production of hot-rolled pipes. This equipment is very significant for the whole plant’s performance, as it is used for the thermal treatment of pipes to be exported. It cost the plant over 70 million RUR to restore the furnace. Some of the old parts were replaced with the new ones made of modern durable materials, which both makes the furnace easier to use and cuts down on labor and material expenses. In addition, the furnace now consumes less gas,

One square meter of a Yekaterinburg-based dwelling was available for 64,062 RUR on average on February 5, 2008. According to the Ural Chamber of Real Estate, this figure has remained the same for nearly four weeks, with only a slight decrease in the price of homes located downtown: the price went down by .2% and amounted to 80,150 RUR. As for the second best, third- and fourth-level residential areas, prices dropped by .3%-.4% and amounted to 67,123 RUR, 57,684 RUR, and 55,447 RUR per one square meter of dwelling, respectively. Housing prices are not likely to rise dramatically at the

According to the profitability ranking of unit investment trusts as of February 4, 2008, the share price of one of Troika Dialog Management Company’s trusts has gone down by 10.43% since the beginning of the year.