OREANDA-NEWS. February 09, 2011. The meeting was held to discuss Uralvagonzavod’s performance results for 2010 and state assistance to the corporation during the economic crisis. Denis Manturov and Oleg Siyenko reported to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about the measures the corporation’s management has taken to increase its economic efficiency and expand the range of its products, such as vehicles for extinguishing fires in inaccessible areas.

Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Siyenko (Oleg Siyenko, Director General of Uralvagonzavod) came to the corporation in April 2009, at the height of the crisis, when the situation there was very serious. It has significantly improved since then. Was government support one of the reasons behind the improvement? What are your performance results for the past year and plans for 2011? What else should be done to help the company?

Oleg Siyenko: Mr Putin, the situation was very serious when the new management was appointed: the total debts outstanding to lending institutions had reached about 40 billion roubles…

Vladimir Putin: I thought it was a little more.

Oleg Siyenko: The amount owed to leasing companies totalled about 17 billion roubles, and to the parts and components suppliers – 66 billion. Contributions to the authorised capital were 4.4 billion roubles in 2009 and 10 billion in 2010.

What results can I cite? We have cut the company’s overall debt by 31 billion roubles. We no longer have tax or wage arrears, nor do we have any problems on the interbank lending market. We repaid sovereign government guarantees by the end of December, paid back all the loans given under these guarantees by our lenders – VTB, Sberbank and the Bank of Moscow. This is a positive trend.

We now have four teams working three shifts. The line rolling out civilian products is working virtually to its capacity. We have enough contracts in our portfolio until 2014. Work is continuing as planned. Of course, we are also expanding the production of new goods under the business plan approved by the board of directors, primarily mobile drilling rigs for the oil and gas industry. We will start delivering them this year. We are also diversifying the range of civilian products, in particular railway products, at our plant in Omsk.

The corporation’s revenues were about 95 billion roubles, or 117 billion including the output of its subsidiaries, which is quite positive. We currently employ about 54,000 people. We have created subsidiaries to address social projects, and they are working toward becoming self-sufficient. We have also established independent security subsidiaries, which provide a fair amount of jobs.

Vladimir Putin: What is the average monthly wage at the corporation?

Oleg Siyenko: It was 13,500 roubles at the beginning of 2010, and 25,000 roubles in December 2010. We plan to increase wages to 26,000 or 27,000 roubles in 2011.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Manturov (Denis Manturov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade), what is your opinion of the corporation’s work and the effect government support has on it?

Denis Manturov: We take a positive view of both the effect of state assistance and the work of the corporation’s management. They worked effectively, cutting production costs by nearly 50% in the past two years. Few other companies can boast such results. Taking into account your instructions on ensuring that the corporation operates to capacity, which you issued in Severodvinsk, and the optimisation of the state defence order for the subsequent period, we have drafted a number of proposals, including for the Emergencies Ministry in view of the wildfires of summer 2010.

We created specialised fire-fighting vehicles for inaccessible areas, mostly forests. We now have several models and have certified a light vehicle with a tracked chassis made at the corporation’s plant in Rubtsovsk. We could also produce a multifunctional version of this vehicle – with a heavy chassis. As far as we understand, the Emergencies Ministry is prepared to purchase such vehicles. We may need to have additional investment made in the Emergencies Ministry’s acquisitions programme, but that will require a separate discussion and decision.

Vladimir Putin: How much could such a vehicle cost?

Oleg Siyenko: Around 30 million roubles, because it will have a heavy chassis.

Vladimir Putin: Do they specifically need the kind with a heavy chassis?

Oleg Siyenko: We are creating a vehicle based on the requirements of the Emergencies Ministry.

Vladimir Putin: So, it was the ministry that provided the design specifications?

Oleg Siyenko: Yes, it was the ministry. We showed them what we could do, and they said it suited them; we showed them a comprehensive group of vehicles for fighting fires such as last summer.

Vladimir Putin: What do you need to start producing these vehicles? Does the ministry need additional funds?

Denis Manturov: Yes, the Emergencies Ministry will need additional funds for its acquisitions programme. As for Uralvagonzavod, the contract means additional work at the assembly line, which we have discussed, and also some minor additional spending on research.

Vladimir Putin: Good.