HungaryTrends – The most important business and finance news

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

THE NEW DANUBE BRIDGE IS UNVEILED – HERE IS HOW IT WILL LOOK LIKE

The final results of the international architectural design competition launched in Hungary to select the best plan for a new bridge constructed over the Danube that fits into the image of Budapest and significantly reduces traffic congestion in the capital. In the following, you can get to know more information about their project and see how the new bridge will look like in the future. Read more HERE.

AIR CANADA ROUGE FLYING WHOLE YEAR BETWEEN BUDAPEST AND TORONTO

Air Canada’s flight between Budapest and Toronto used to be seasonal, but this will change soon: Air Canada Rouge’s planes will travel during the whole year from the winter season. Read more HERE.

VARGA TO KEEP ECONOMY PORTFOLIO IN NEW GOVERNMENT

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Mihály Varga would continue to oversee the economy portfolio in Hungary’s new government. Varga is “extraordinarily talented” and “extraordinarily experienced”, he said in a weekly radio interview.

OTP CANCELS CONTRACT TO BUY ROMANIAN BANK

OTP Bank Romania cancelled its contract to acquire Banca Romaneasca and other Romanian businesses from the National Bank of Greece. The contract was cancelled because conditions were not fulfilled on time, OTP Bank said. The acquisition failed to win the approval of the National Bank of Romania in March.

NBH DEPEPUTY GOVENOR SETS LOFTY TARGETS FOR LENDERS

National Bank of Hungary (NBH) deputy governor Marton Nagy said at portfolio.hu’s conference that Hungarian banks’ total assets need to reach an annual growth rate of 11 percent by 2030 for the country to achieve sustainable convergence. Corporate lending should grow by an annual 12 percent and retail lending by 15 percent.

HUNGARIAN BUSINESS HAVING ENORMOUS POTENTIAL IN CHONGQING

What business opportunities do Hungarians have in the Far East where a tough international competition awaits those who would like to start a promising and fruitful enterprise, namely in Chongqing, the business heaven of Central China? Doors are certainly open for Hungarian businesses in the Far East since Hungarians are warmly welcomed. Read more HERE.

V4 MINISTERS SIGN MOU ON INDUSTRIAL POLICY COOPERATION

Economy ministers of the Visegrad Group — Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia — in Budapest signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperating in industrial policy.

MKB BANK PROFIT DOUBLES IN 2017

Consolidated after-tax profit of MKB Bank rose to 19.2 billion forints (EUR 61.7m) last year from 9.5 billion in 2016, CEO Adam Balog said. Pre-tax profit nearly tripled to 20.7 billion forints on improved results in the retail, corporate and private banking businesses.

MOL BOARD RE-ELECTS HERNÁDI AS CHAIRMAN

The board of directors of Hungarian oil and gas company MOL re-elected Zsolt Hernádi as chairman for another five-year term. Hernádi has been MOL’s chairman since 2000.

GERMAN-HUNGARIAN CHAMBER’S GAUGE OF CONFIDENCE RISES FURTHER

An annual gauge of business confidence by the German-Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DUIHK) rose to 28 points from 21 points. More companies want to make investments and more than half plan to make new hires, the survey showed.

ATENOR GROUP HUNGARY LAYS CORNERSTONE OF 72,000SQM OFFICE COMPLEX

Property developer Atenor Group Hungary laid the cornerstone of a 72,000sqm office complex, dubbed Arena Business Campus, in Budapest. The first of the four office buildings is expected to be inaugurated in Q3 or Q4 of 2019.

MAKTEL TO PAY MAGYAR TELEKOM MKD 900M DIVIDEND

Magyar Telekom said it is entitled, indirectly, to a dividend of about 900 million denars (HUF 4.54bn/EUR 14.6m) from its Macedonian unit MakTel. MakTel shareholders approved a dividend of 1.58 billion denars at a general meeting during the week.

WABERER’S COULD PAY DIVIDEND ON 2019 EARNINGS AT THE EARLIEST

Hungarian haulier Waberer’s International could pay a dividend on 2019 earnings at the earliest, CEO Ferenc Lajkó told MTI after an annual general meeting.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI,Daily News Hungary