Severnaya Kazna published an obligatory report on important news that could affect a company’s stock price on May 24, 2007. The report states the bank’s net profit amounted to 449,785,000 RUR in 2005 and to 231,710,000 RUR in 2006; this means it went down by 48.48%, or 218,075,000 RUR. The bank says it was due to less favorable market opportunities, expenses occasioned by expanding their retail services and setting up more subsidiaries, and new accounting standards related to deposit interests.

The number of apartments currently offered for sale in Yekaterinburg is bigger than ever before, and the prices stopped going up into the bargain. The average price of a square meter of dwelling now comes to 67,000 RUR; the average price of a square meter of dwelling in the center of the city comes to 80,000 RUR. Experts believe there will be even more supply in the near future, with prices remaining stable, Ural Chamber of Real Estate says.

Chelyabinsk Region Government approved of the action plan based on the President’s address to the Federal Assembly for 2007 on May 24, 2007. According to regional Minister of Economic Development Yuri Klepov, the plan covers four general trends: ensuring great economic growth, improving the living standards, empowering the local governments, and providing for national security. President Vladimir Putin said economic growth was the country’s utmost challenge, which is why Chelyabinsk Region Government intends to keep supporting small and medium-scale business, with 53.5 million RUR already

Rostourism updated its lists of successful applicants wishing to get on the United Federal Register list; only three Yekaterinburg-based companies actually managed to get all the documents needed and were registered by the agency: Ural Tourist Company Ltd., Europort Ltd., and More Travel Russian Club Ltd. No other local travel agents have managed to make it so far; in the meantime, the deadline for submitting one’s applications has been set at June 1, 2007.

‘Sverdlovsk Region banks tend to give more loans to industrial enterprises lately, given especially a certain downfall in the general public’s interest in mortgages,’ Deputy Chairman of the Union of Ural Bankers Evgeniy Bolotin announced at a press conference devoted to banks’ contribution to the country’s economy on May 24, 2007. ‘Equipment used by quite a few regional companies is in dire need of upgrading or replacement, so our industry needs substantial modernization and new technologies. At the same time, banks might find offering loans to industrial businesses even more promising than

‘The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s decision to buy a share holding of SKB-Bank is definitely a good thing for the latter. The decision was made after the EBRD looked into SKB-Bank’s investing potential, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is now going to support this Russian bank with both finances and shared expertise in the field of bank management and operational policies,’ General Director of Blagodat Securities Investment Company Vsevolod Chaschin said to UrBC. SKB-Bank reports it signed the share-selling agreement with the European Bank for

Alapaevsk Customs and Yekaterinburg Customs (both parts of Ural Customs Administration) filed a criminal suit against a group of offenders who were trying to smuggle some consumer goods, Administration’s press officer reports. As it happens, one of the regional profit-making organizations placed its cargo manifest with Yekaterinburg Customs; the cargo in question was a railway carriage going from Rezh station to Tajikistan. The paper stated that there was pine carving wood and linoleum inside. The obligatory check, however, revealed that the actual weight of the alleged linoleum was much

‘The volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Region banks to legal entities came to approximately 200 billion RUR on April 1, 2007. Loans to sole traders amounted to 10 billion RUR, loans to individual borrowers reached 70 billion RUR,’ First Deputy Minister for Economics and Labor Nikolai Bespamyatnikh reported at a press conference devoted to banks’ contribution to the country’s economy on May 24, 2007.

Most of Russian blue chips kept going down on May 24, 2007: they were .9% to 4.1% less expensive at both RTS and MICEX as early as 10.45 AM; RTS and MICEX indices dropped down to 1,792.45 and 1,566.37 points, respectively. At MICEX, RAO UES of Russia’s shares (EESR) were sold 2.4% cheaper, those of LUKOIL (LKOH) became 1.8% less expensive, those of GazProm (GAZP) dropped by 2%, those of Norilsk Nickel (GMKN) dropped by 3.1%; the shares of SurgutNefteGas (SNGS) were sold 2.8% cheaper, the price of those of TatNeft (TATN) decreased by 1.4%, TransNeft’s shares (TRNF) went down by 4%.

Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Physical Education, Sports and Tourism and Ural State University are holding an interregional conference known as The Greater Urals Tourist Forum on May 24-25, 2007. The event is supported by the regional government and Rostourism. ‘The agenda of the conference covers issues of foreign travelers coming to the Urals and creating and promoting the Greater Urals brand in Russia and abroad,’ Ural Airlines’ press officer says. The carrier has already come up with a few new offers to make foreigners’ visits more comfortable. The company’s English and German corporate

RENOVA Stroy Group presented its Academic Construction Project at Real Vienna 2007 International Exhibition on May 23, 2007. The exhibition usually attracts Western and Eastern Europe’s largest investment projects. The company’s press officer says the project stand was located in Messezentrum Wien Neu, the exposition’s main pavilion. At least a few hundred visitors had a look at the stand within the first few hours of the opening; these were mainly European officials and entrepreneurs, including Vienna’s Vice Mayor, Vienna’s Minister for Finances and Economic Policies Renate Brauner, and top

The regional division of the Bank of Russia registered Financial System bank management fund under the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Registration number is 04657779500015. ‘The new fund will mainly invest in Russian banks’ shares; this segment was chosen because Russian banks need to develop quicker than any other sectors if we want to boost the country’s economic growth. When economy is on the rise, banking services enjoy greater demand; market capitalization and liquidity within this segment goes up as well, all of which improves the dividend payments and stock price. In

Rosselkhoznadzor (the state agricultural watchdog) reports that 31.2 million hectares of land, or 63.4% of the target figures, have been sown by May 22, 2007. This is 957,000 hectares less than a year earlier; 20.1 million hectares were used for spring crops; this comes to 64.1% of the target figures. The sowing has been delayed by eight to ten days (compared to the usual beginning of the sowing campaigns) in Ural Federal District and the Volga Region due to inclement weather; only 850,000 hectares, or 20% of the planned area, have been sown in Ural Federal District, with spring crops and

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of nongovernmental financial institutions’ deposits in Uralfinprombank valid for 3 or more years went down 100% (from 4.5 million RUR to zero) in January-April 2007.

Regional deputies have recently considered a draft agreement between Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for State Property Management and the city council regarding the distribution of land allotments in Yekaterinburg, since neither of the entities has a distinct property right over these areas. The agreement was assessed at the meeting devoted to adopting changes in the regional land management law. According to one point of this agreement, a representative of the Ministry (who has to be a committee member) would be able to veto the committee’s decisions. If this representative does use his or her

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by GRAN Bank to sole traders for 181 days to 1 year went down 50% (from 43.160 million RUR to 21.157 million RUR) in January-April 2007.

A fortnight-long survey conducted through SKB-Bank’s corporate website indicates that over one-quarter of people wishing to buy an apartment are going to use a mortgage. There were 180 respondents altogether. 44% of those surveyed said they were worried about the sky-high prices and admitted they couldn’t possibly afford to move to a larger place at the moment. About 2% reported they were hoping to get a company apartment or a company loan. 9% of respondents are planning to buy a dwelling using a consumer loan, whereas the majority of those who do plan to buy a place are going to use a

Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Oleg Gusev chaired a meeting of the committee accountable for all the preparations for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization head of states meeting in Yekaterinburg in 2009. The agenda of the meeting covered the financial issues; according to some preliminary estimates, about 15 billion RUR will be provided by the federal budget reserves, 18 billion RUR will be contributed by Sverdlovsk Region budget, and 2.6 billion RUR will be invested by Yekaterinburg budget. In addition, companies and enterprises are expected to provide about 90 billion RUR, the

Federal Antimonopoly Service accepted the application of Metalloinvest Management Company and United Machine Building Works (aka OMZ (Obedinennye Mashinostroitelnye Zavody, formerly United Heavy Machinery)) regarding the request to set up Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation. The Service also accepted their petition about providing the new company’s authorized capital through shares of ORMETO YUMZ and Uralmashzavod. This large corporation will unite UZTM (Ural Heavy Machine Building Plant), Uralmash-SpetsStal Ltd., OMZ DRO, OMZ Crane Ltd., and ORMETO-YUMZ Heavy Engineering Joint Stock Co.,

Regional Court of Arbitration rejected the claims laid by Koltsovo airport and declared the decision taken by Federal Antimonopoly Service was legitimate. The whole issue began with Ural Airlines complaining that the airport had been refusing them slots needed for Yekaterinburg-Moscow flights (departure 8.15 AM and 6.40 PM ), Moscow-Yekaterinburg (departure 10.20 AM and 10 PM) as well as the so-called historic slots (summertime flights) which had been offered to Aviaprad instead. In December 2006, Sverdlovsk Region Federal Antimonopoly Service declared the airport violated the completion