OREANDA-NEWS. On 06 August 2008 OMZ OJSC (RTS: OMZZ; LSE: OMZD; OTC: UHMVY), announced its financial results for the first half of 2008 in accordance with Russian Accounting Standards (RAS). The company announced strong growth in its key financial indicators for the first half of 2008 against the comparable period of 2007.

The company’s net profit quadrupled to RUR1.2 billion. Revenues were RUR14.1 billion, 50% more in comparison with 1H 2007.

OMZ continues implementation of its investment program aimed at modernization and technical upgrading of its production facilities, increased production efficiency and further development of OMZ Group companies. In particular, construction of the new DSP-120 steel smelting furnace is being undertaken in strict conformity with the approved schedule. The furnace is scheduled to go into operation at the end of 1Q 2009. The new furnace will smelt metal for large size semi-finished products including reactor shells for nuclear power plants, production of which is a part of implementation of the Federal Program for Energy Industry Development. The new furnace will allow not only increased production volumes but also improved quality of large size ingots.