The Russian authorities are considering abandoning the use of Urals quotations for oil tax calculations, and business activity in the Russian service sector is declining for the fourth month in a row – these and other important news for Friday morning, February 3, in our daily review.

The Russian authorities are considering the possibility of completely abandoning the use of Russian Urals crude oil quotations in calculating oil taxes, replacing them with quotations of the benchmark Brent brand. This is reported by “Kommersant” with reference to informed sources. Now the main option under consideration is to calculate taxes on the basis of Brent quotations, taking into account the discount and the cost of freight, and the size of the latter will be of a “directive nature”.

Business activity index (PMI) in the service sector in Russia in January amounted to 48.7 points against 45.9 points in December, according to the study of S&P Global. Business activity in this sector declined for the fourth month in a row, while employment in the Russian services sector shrank for the sixth month in a row.

French dairy producer Danone (EPA:DANO) has offered potential investors control over part of its assets with the condition of buyback, Kommersant writes, citing sources. Several investment funds are interested in the purchase, they will be able to buy only Russian brands of Danone, including “Prostokvashino”, “Rastishka”, “Tema”.

Armbrok, an investment company from Armenia, began offering depositary receipts of Russian companies, which were previously listed on Western exchanges and were included in the portfolios of global banks and investment funds, RBC writes. This format of sale allows large holders, who wrote off these securities “to zero” because of sanctions, to earn something on them, and Russian investors – to take a risk and buy shares at a large discount in the expectation of transferring them to the Russian infrastructure in the future.

Luxury brand clothing chain Paul Smith has announced that it will cease operations in Russia, the British newspaper Daily Mail reported. The decision was preceded by a public campaign to strip Sir Paul Smith, British multimillionaire, founder and owner of the chain, of his knighthood. Its initiators told the publication that they were withdrawing their demands because “he quickly corrected himself”.