Budapest Airport has welcomed its one millionth passenger in a single month, for the first time in its history. Tamás Hadik and his wife, from the Qatar Airways flight from Doha, were in for a special surprise as the passenger count reached 1,000,000 in July.
"I came back from the US to Hungary with a business plan for an IT company, and it is highly satisfying to see that idea now a thriving business with almost 100 employees." says Peter Freed, founder of Duna Elektronika.
LogMeIn, a Hungarian born startup company has grown to become one of the world’s leading SaaS companies with over 800 employees in eight offices around the world. Its Budapest-office remains one of the most important development base.
In the early 1990s, market based privatization was the main incentive for foreign investment in Hungary. With privatization virtually complete, Hungary’s main focus in attracting FDI has increasingly shifted to products and services incorporating high value added elements. That is the case with the American investors as well.
George Hemingway is a self confessed opportunist, an autocrat – “a benign one” he quickly qualifies – but above all, a builder, not so much of buildings, though that, too with a new Bozsik stadium on the way, but of “organizations, businesses".
American technology has been leading the world for decades. Giants such as
General Electric (GE), Microsoft, Apple, HP and others have contributed much to the world and represent a huge added value. And spend billions of dollars for R+D and marketing to defy Asian competitors.
Growth prospects for the European economy are showing improvement in 2015, which creates greater business confidence in office tenants. This is already having an impact on the demand for offices, which increased by 4% year-on-year. The tightening supply of prime office space in Europe is causing prime rents to accelerate.
As the private investments' market heats up in Europe, owners of venture capital (VC) firms and private equity (PE) investors try to find good partners in Hungary too. Transactions happen every month and a good sign is that they happen not in the IT sector only but in the business products and services segment as well.
Neumann Society (NS), a transatlantic non-profit organization working to foster innovation among Hungarians and other Europeans in Silicon Valley announced the opening of Neumann House, its physical headquarters and community space in Redwood City, California on June 1, 2015.
After two years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has again held inspections in Hungary. A representative of the FSIS audited the monitoring system of Hungary’s animal-based food producers.
Nowhere in Europe is it this conspicuous that only those with good relations with the government can sell tobacco products. Hungary could be subjected to a commitment procedure in the near future, portfolio.hu quotes a Hungarian blog.
Hungary’s no-work Sunday law cost more than 2,000 people their jobs in commerce by the end of April 2015, the country's Central Statistical Office (KSH) data suggest. Additionally, the number of overtime hours rose to five-year highs.
As of November 1 this year, only two companies will be allowed to sell tobacco products directly to Hungary’s national tobacco shops. Portfolio.hu says the new legislation practically squeezes out all other players and wholesalers from this market.
The last private gas provider for residential consumers on the Hungarian market, Tigáz has given up its household gas provision business. Recently three other large providers did the same after accumulating heavy losses due to government decrees.
In an historic return, Spain's national carrier, Iberia, and its low-cost subsidiary, Iberia Express, have launched a six-days-a-week seasonal service between the capitals of Spain and Hungary, also facilitating access from Budapest to other cities in Span and Latin America.
