OREANDA-NEWS. November 12, 2010. ARMADA (MICEX, RTS: ARMD) announces that a number of its subsidiaries have received an accreditation from the Communications and Mass Media Ministry of Russia that enables companies to use a reduced insurance premium rate in future — 14% of the gross payroll. The rate may be set under the state IT industry support program for 2011-2017, with the respective bill approved by the State Duma on October 8. The bill is currently pending approval from the Federation Council and will then be signed into law by the President of Russia. The current wording of the bill implies that the reduced rate will apply to all of 2010 as well, with the excess insurance premium amount to be reimbursed to the companies or offset against future payments.

The incentive has been designed for IT companies with no less than 90% of revenue generated by software development, which have received accreditation from the Communications and Mass Media Ministry of Russia and employ over 50 people. ARMADA Soft, along with other subsidiaries of the group engaged in software development, meet the required revenue and staff criteria, and they were recently included in the register of organizations operating in the IT sector and accredited by the Communications and Mass Media Ministry.

In 2009, the share of ARMADA’s software development in total revenue of the group increased from 32% to 38%. The company’s management team confirmed that software development will remain one of ARMADA’s top priorities for a long time.

Considering the fact that the insurance premium rate for IT companies which do not qualify for the state support program will be set at 34% from January 1, 2011, ARMADA is securing an additional competitive edge for itself on the market for the next 7 years.