December 14, 2005, at the restaurant "Lypskiy osobnyak", there was a press conference by Vladimir Kolodyuk, President of AVentures Group. The main theme of the event was the holding company's plans for 2006. Mr. Kolodyuk devoted a great deal of attention to further development prospects for the holding company's retail companies - by the end of next year the total number of retail outlets for AVentures Group will be about 245 stores. Furthermore, the holding company's turnover will for the first time exceed the $1 billion dollar mark, reaching 1.1 billion dollars.

Thus, next year it is planned to increase the City.com modern electronic hypermarkets chain more than threefold and open 13 more stores with a total floor area of about 18,000 square meters. Thus, by the end of 2006, this retail chain will consist of 17 stores with a total floor space of 26,500 square meters.

A great deal of attention will be devoted to the development of the Unitrade chain - in addition to the 44 currently operating salons (total floor space - 8,100 square meters) it is planned to open 24 more stores for a floor space of 5,500 square meters. Furthermore, harsh demands will be made with regard to opening stores concerning locations - only on central streets.

At the press conference, there also was an official announcement about the opening of the melofon retail chain as an independent business. "Now we can talk about the fact that the pilot project ‘Pyatachok' has been developed into a new business of the holding company - the melofon chain melofon", announced Vladimir Kolodyuk. In his words, in the course of the year in the regime of real time, there was an experiment in searching for a suitable format of the chain - absolutely different stores were opened, the efficiency of the work was verified with advertisement of various kinds of and intensity. "We embarked on this expensive experiment, realizing that part of the stores opened by us would have to be closed. But we were prepared for this, and I consider the experiment successful", explains Mr. Kolodyuk, "I don't rule out that we will make use of such methods of work in the future."

Thus, at the end of 2005, the melofon chain will consist of 60 stores with a total floor space of 2,200 square meters. Next year, it is planned to open 100 more salons under this brand.

In addition, the holding company is launching two more new retail pilot projects this year. One of them is the Samobyt household appliance supermarket chain. The first of the stores of the chain will open December 17, 2005, at the "Detskiy mir" commercial center in Darnytsya next to City.com. The unique quality of Samobyt's format is the variety of the supermarket, there are exclusively household appliances. And even though this line of products is not strategic for the holding company, the development of this line of business will be given quite a bit of attention. "At the beginning, Samobyt stores will be opened next to City.com. Thereafter, we will examine the possibility of developing this business as independent", says Vladimir Kolodyuk. "For the time being, we plan to open 3 stores in the first half of the year".

Another of the holding company's projects is the Sector chain of computer clubs. The first of them will open on December 15 at the commercial center "Dafi" in Dnepropetrovsk. "In this format, we also intend to experiment, applying the best American, Russian, and Ukrainian experience", explains Mr. Kolodyuk. "At Sector, there will be game areas and Internet zones, as well as that which isn't at other clubs - for example, a children's play zone, a full-fledged café, etc." In the first half of 2006, the holding company plans to launch 2-3 more clubs. On the average, it is planned to invest about $100 thousand in opening one such club.

On the whole, the holding company intends to invest $15 million in the development of retail chains in 2006. "I want to emphasize that this is an amount of guaranteed investments in the opening of stores, which does not include funds for purchasing premises and goods", emphasized Vladimir Kolodyuk. "In favorable conditions, the total volume of investments may exceed that announced 2-3 times".

At the holding company they say that among the sources of investment are practically full reinvestment of profit, bank loans, and issuance of stocks and Eurobonds. Thus, in the second half of the year with the help of Eurobonds, it is planned to attract about $50 million. In the future, the holding company is examining the possibility of attracting more money resources by virtue of IPO as well; however, a public offering will occur, in the words of Mr. Kolodyuk, no earlier than the end of 2007.

Commenting on the situation in the mergers and acquisitions market, Vladimir Kolodyuk emphasized that in 2005, the holding company conducted negotiations on the purchase of several retail chains; however, at present, not a single one of them corresponds to the demands of the holding company, although he also noted that he does not rule out the possibility of such purchased in the future.