| From the beginning of the next half of the year, the largest European importer of natural gas from Russia, joint stock company Ruhrgas, will officially be called E.on--Ruhrgas. As is known, this gas company from Essen, which has been cooperating with the Russian gas industry for more than three decades, was “adopted” by Europe’s largest energy concern, E.on, in February 2003. It has since been suggested that, as part of the creation of a "corporate identity" with E.on, the new Ruhrgas shareholders would simply liquidate the name. However, this did not happen. From the headquarters of E.on in Düsseldorf, the decision announced by the Chairman of the Board Wulf Bernotat became known: the concern is using the so-called Dual Branding. Thus, the legendary name of Ruhrgas, which was at the forefront of the formation of the gas market in Europe, will be preserved in combination with the name of its new majority shareholder. Yuri Shpakov, Dusseldorf
Sberbank earned 33.8 billion rubles
Sberbank's net profit at the end of 2003 according to Russian accounting standards amounted to 33.8 billion rubles, which is 8.3% more than in 2002. Yesterday, Sberbank reported data on net profit in the fourth quarter of last year, which amounted to 7.203 billion rubles. (at the end of the third quarter, this figure exceeded 4.9 billion rubles, at the end of the first half of the year - 21.6 billion rubles). According to the bank, its assets in 2003 increased by 27.5%, to 3.392 trillion rubles. The growth in profit in the fourth quarter, writes Sberbank, was due to “both an increase in income from credit operations due to an increase in the volume of lending to corporate clients and the population, and an increase in income from operations with securities due to a positive revaluation of the trading portfolio of securities and arbitrage profits received in conditions of favorable market conditions." "TIME FOR NEWS"
Silence is a sign of consent from Megafon subscribers
A new service has appeared on the Megafon-Moscow network - automatic location locator (AOP). Now any user of Megafon pre-paid tariffs (Simple and Light series) will be able to find out where the other subscriber is. To do this, just send an SMS message with the number of the wanted subscriber. True, a network user has the right to both prohibit tracking him and set a mode in which, in order to determine his location, he will first need to obtain special permission from him. Each request costs 15 cents (excluding VAT), and if the location could not be determined for any reason, the money will still be debited from the account. Megafon, wanting to get as much benefit as possible from this service, is trying to minimize the number of subscribers who prohibit their location from being determined. So, if a subscriber sets such a ban, then he himself will not be able to use AOP. Moreover, this service will be connected to all pre-paid subscribers from March 15, and by default (that is, if the user does not independently change the service settings) a mode is set that allows other subscribers to determine the user’s location. True, a notification will be sent to this subscriber about each fact of such a “determination”. This procedure for connecting the service causes the most controversy. But at Megafon, drawing analogies between AOP and Caller ID (automatic number identification), they remind that when calling a phone with Caller ID, no one asks the caller for permission to determine his number. "TIME FOR NEWS"
Gazprom will continue to place ruble bonds
The Gazprom board yesterday recognized it as advisable to raise up to 5 billion rubles. in 2004 as part of a borrowing program by placing bonds on the Russian market with a circulation period of five years. The funds received will be used to finance current production activities, implement new promising projects, and will also be used to refinance Gazprom’s short-term debt. At the beginning of February, the concern already placed the largest bond issue in the history of the Russian corporate borrowing market - for 10 billion rubles. with a maturity of three years at 8% per annum. "TIME FOR NEWS"
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