A substantial rise in three-month profits has been reported by Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom. The group revealed that pre-tax profits for the first quarter of 2011 reached 591 billion roubles, which represents a 40 per cent increase on the same period last year. Meanwhile, sales were up by 38 per cent to 1.32 trillion [...]

Drilling and testing of the first horizontal well in the Russian Zapadno Chumpasskoye Field has exceeded expectations. Heritage Oil Plc reported that production from Well 363 is currently at a controlled rate of 1,205 bopd, contributing to the overall field production rate of c.1,600 bopd. This is a significant increase on the 431 bopd recorded [...]

Credit rating companies have "clearly underrated" Russia, according to the country's Finance Ministry. Standard & Poor's, one of the largest ratings firms, have the Russian economy rated at BBB. This is the second lowest investment grade possible, making it similarly matched to Mexico. This is despite the fact that Russia's debt-to-GDP stands at 9.3 per [...]

The Russian market has helped a French car maker to keep its head above the ground amid a poor performance in Europe. PSA Peugeot Citroen, France’s biggest car maker, reported a fractional increase in worldwide sales of 0.2 per cent for the first half of 2011 compared to the same six months last year. As [...]

Russian politicians and investors are keen to develop Moscow as an international centre for financial services. The country’s government has been exerting pressure on the two major exchanges, Micex and RTS, to come to an agreement regarding the development of Russia’s financial services industry for some time. Now, the two have finalised a $5 billion [...]

Russia has been flagged up as an important market for people interested in alternative investments. The Alternative Asset Analysis group, an alternative investment advocacy group, claimed that Russia is offering an increasing level of opportunity for people interested in the art and antiques market in particular. An appetite for high value art and the developing [...]

The latest preliminary figures from Russia’s Federal Statistics Service show that the country’s economy grew 4.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2011, compared with the same period in 2010. The growth was broadly in keeping with government projections, with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin predicting an overall GDP growth of 4.2 per cent this [...]

Russia's major telecommunications provider, Center Telecom, has posted a financial year-end profit of 6.7 billion roubles for 2010. The audited and consolidated IFRS results represent a 15 per cent increase on 2009 when the financial year-end profits were 5.87 billion roubles. The 2010 Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization (OIBDA) rose one per cent on [...]

Russia’s chief economic adviser has said that Russia needs more specialist engineers if its ageing industries are to modernise. Arkady Dvorkovich made the comments ahead of President Dmitry Medvedev's trip to the Urals city of Magnitogorsk later this week, where he will head a meeting about state modernisation. Dvorkovich told a press conference, "We have [...]

Russia may put a key part of its asset sale initiative on hold as rising oil prices reduce financial pressure on the Russian economy. Russia’s economy minister Elvira Nabiullina said that the planned sale of a 7.6 per cent stake in OAO Sberbank, the country’s biggest lender, may be cancelled or delayed. He said questions [...]