The week in business and finance in Hungary

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

RICHTER Q2 PROFIT FALLS ON FINANCIAL LOSS

Hungarian drugmaker Gedeon Richter’s second-quarter net income fell by an annual 52 percent to 8.4 billion forints (EUR 27.5m) on a big financial loss, an earnings report showed. Richter’s revenue grew by 17 percent to 114.1 billion forints during the period.

HUNGARY ISSUES RMB 1 BN PANDA BOND

Hungary issued a three-year 1 billion renminbi (EUR 130m) “panda” bond, targeted at the domestic Chinese market, making the country the first to tap both China’s onshore and offshore market for yuan bonds. Economy ministry state secretary Ágnes Hornung said the actual interest Hungary pays on the bond would be under the 4.85 percent coupon after the swap to convert the proceeds into euros.

HOME BUILDING PERMITS CLIMB BY 40 PC IN H1

Home building permits issued in Hungary in the first half jumped by 40 percent to 19,823 from the same period a year earlier, the Central Statistical Office said. The number of completed homes increased by 46 percent to 5,004 during the period.

BOSCH SETS UP HUF 1.6 BN SSC AT POWER TOOLS PLANT IN HUNGARY

German engineering giant Bosch wound up a 1.6 billion forint (EUR 5.2m) project to establish a shared services centre at its power tools plant in Miskolc, in northern Hungary. The government is providing Robert Bosch Power Tools with a 358 million forint grant for the investment which the company promised would create 205 workplaces.

MOL SIGNS EUR 110 M SCHULDSCHEIN AGREEMENT

Hungarian oil and gas company MOL said it signed a 110 million euro Schuldscheindarlehen (SSD) Agreement, becoming the first Hungarian company to avail of the form of credit which is an alternative to syndicated loans and corporate bonds.