Hungary Trends – The week in business and finance

Budapest, March 26 (MTI) – See below MTI’s main business and financial news from the previous week:

GROUPAMA COMPLETES SALE OF 3 PC OTP STAKE, RAISING HUF 64.4 BN

France’s Groupama sold 8,260,000 shares of OTP Bank, Hungary’s biggest commercial lender, in an institutional private placement. The sale of the 3 percent stake generated about 64.4 billion forints (EUR 207.5m). Groupama still holds about 5 percent of OTP.

MOL BOARD TO PROPOSE 8-FOR-1 STOCK SPLIT

The board of Hungarian oil and gas company MOL will propose an 8-for-1 stock split to shareholders at an annual general meeting on April 13, the AGM agenda showed. The effective date of the stock split would be September 1, 2017.

RICHTER BOARD PROPOSES HUF 106-PER-SHARE DIVIDEND

The board of Hungarian drugmaker Gedeon Richter will propose to shareholders payment of a HUF 106-per-share dividend on last year’s earnings at a general meeting on April 26, the AGM agenda showed. The dividend payment comes to about 19.8 billion forints (EUR 63.8m).

ZF HUNGARIA INVESTS HUF 31 BN TO BROADEN PRODUCT PALETTE

German-owned automotive industry supplier ZF Hungaria will invest 31 billion forints (EUR 99.9m) at its plant in Eger (N Hungary) to add eight-speed transmissions to the production line. The company was awarded a 6.7 billion forints (EUR 21.5m) government grant for the investment which will create 770 jobs.

HUNGARY GROSS WAGES CLIMB 10 PC IN JANUARY

The average gross wage in Hungary rose 10 percent year on year to 273,822 forint (EUR 882.497) in January, the Central Statistical Office said. Wages have been boosted by higher minimum wages as well as pay rises in the social services, healthcare and cultural sectors.