HungaryTrends – Previous week in business – 5th week in 2020

See below main business and financial news from the previous week:

NON-TICKET REVENUE BOOSTS WIZZ AIR EARNINGS

Hungarian low-fare carrier Wizz Air’s profits were lifted by a big increase in non-ticket revenue in the third quarter of its business year ended December 31, an earnings report showed. Revenue from passenger tickets increased 15.5 percent to 336.3 million euros, while non-ticket revenue jumped 36.7 percent to 301.1 million euros, climbing because of changes to cabin bag policy and “improved conversion of value-added services”, Wizz Air said.

Read alsoJamie Oliver and Zsidai have big plans for Central Europe

OTP BANK AIMS FOR 5 PC MARKET SHARE IN ROMANIA

OTP Bank wants to raise its market share in Romania to 3 percent by year-end and to 5 percent in five years, the head of the lender’s local unit said in an interview with Romanian business daily Ziarul Financiar (ZF). OTP Bank Romania is spending 1 billion leus to achieve that target, mostly through organic growth but it won’t rule out acquisitions, said Gyula Fater.

HOME PRICE GROWTH SLOWS COUNTRYWIDE IN HUNGARY

Home price growth slowed in Hungary’s biggest cities as well as the capital in the third quarter,

a report released by the National Bank of Hungary showed. Nominal year-on-year home price growth in Budapest slowed to 18.9 percent in Q3 from 24.4 percent in the previous quarter. Price growth also decelerated in other big Hungarian cities, regardless of region, to 20.5 percent from 22.1 percent, during the period.

Read alsoBudapest tourism industry expects Chinese cancellations amid coronavirus outbreak

CZECH ONLINE SUPERMARKET EXPANDS INTO HUNGARY

Czech online supermarket Rohlik.cz announced its launch in Hungary under the Kifli.hu moniker.

The online supermarket, branded “crescent roll” in Hungarian, like the name of its Czech peer, is delivering to Budapest and Budaors, on the outskirts of the capital, for the time being, but plans to broaden its geographical market later. Rohlik.cz, which is owned by the Czech entrepreneur Tomas Cupr, is ploughing 5-6 million euros into the Hungarian business, its first venture abroad.

NBH ADVISORY BODY PRESSES FOR BETTER COORDINATED HOUSING POLICY

A body of real estate professionals and policy makers established by the National Bank of Hungary (NBH) to issue advice on the housing and commercial real estate market urged the government to take a more coordinated approach and adopt counter-cyclical policies. In a package of recommendations, the Housing and Real Estate Market Advisory Board (LITT) proposed that “healthy home construction volume” should be defined and communicated, then regulation should be introduced to help achieve that volume.

SCALE OF MTEL FINE CONTINGENT ON REFUNDS

Hungary’s Competition Office (GVH) fined Magyar Telekom for advertising data transfer at “maximum speed” even though the top speed was available only to a limited number of subscribers. GVH fined MTel 350 million forints (EUR 1.0m) for the offense; however, in a first for the watchdog, it made payment of 250 million of the fine conditional on compensation to the affected subscribers.

CONSUMER, BUSINESS CONFIDENCE DETERIORATE IN JAN

Economic research institute GKI’s combined gauge of consumer and business confidence fell to -2.5 points in January from -1.1 points in the previous month on a significant deterioration in consumer sentiment. GKI’s measure of confidence in the business sector edged down to 1.0 point in January from 1.5 points in December. GKI’s consumer confidence index fell to -12.5 points from -8.4 points.

Source: MTI