27 Jun 2005 15:56

Interfax launches new version of SPARK

Interfax Information Services Group has launched a new version of the SPARK information system, Russia‘s largest database of corporate information, which has now been enlarged with information about bankruptcies and quotations.

"At our clients‘ request, SPARK has been updated three times over the past 18 months, which has nearly doubled the number of information sources accessible through it and seriously enhanced the system‘s functional potential," said SPARK Project Director Roman Laba. "The new version has provided our clients with new capabilities, including access to the most complete Russian information sources on bankruptcies," Laba said.
SPARK offers information on all bankruptcy cases, including arbitration courts‘ reports about debtors declaring bankruptcy and about the beginning of receivership procedures, as well as receivers‘ notices about the sale of debtors‘ enterprises and properties. Such reports had been published in different places over the past five years, but there was no federal database on bankruptcies. SPARK is the first database to include a large amount of such information.
A newly introduced quotation section allows SPARK subscribers to run through the current share prices, look at upward and downward trends over the day and check diagrams.
The functional potential of the system has been improved. It is now powered by a full-text search engine linked to the file archives of reports received from the Federal Financial Markets Service. One may use catalogues by branches and regions: the National Classifier of Administrative Territorial Entities (OKATO), National Economy Sector Classifier (OKONKH) and Foreign Economic Activities Classifier (OKVED). Search mechanisms and ways of building SPARK-reports have been optimized.

*** SPARK is a system of professional analysis for markets and companies and Russia‘s largest corporate database which contains crucial facts about the operations of practically all legal entities registered in Russia (http://spark.interfax.ru).
SPARK currently has information about 2.5 million legal entities. Official information about companies includes data provided by the Federal State Statistics Service, Federal Tax Service, Federal Financial Markets Service, Central Bank and other ministries and departments.
The database was developed by Interfax-CAN, a specialized analytical service in Interfax Group.