Budapest Business Journal 2908

HUNGARY’S PRACTICAL BUSINESS BI-WEEKLY SINCE 1992 | WWW.BBJ.HU

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BUSINESS JOURNAL BUDAPEST

VOL. 29. NUMBER 8

APRIL 23 – MAY 6, 2021

SPECIAL REPORT

Human Resources

SPECIAL REPORT

Recruitment Market Eases, but Executive Search as Tough as Ever Executive search and recruitment companies suffered a hit with the onset of the pandemic last spring. However, by the last quarter of 2020, demand had largely recovered, although both clients and targets had subtly tweaked their requirements. 11 NEWS

Industry Picks up the Pace, and so Does Inflation Industrial production picked up in February, much to the surprise of many analysts. However, they expect a slowdown to follow, due to the COVID-restrictions introduced in March. 3 SOCIALITE

Mór Passing the Acid Test A recent visit to winemakers in Mór left Robert Smyth begging for more from this tiny Hungarian wine region, whose wines once had a reputation for aggressive acidity. 23

Georgia on his Mind

INE BUS

SS

Georgian Ambassador Zaal Gogsadze discusses the country’s eye-catching “Corruption Freedom” data, bilateral trade, cultural relations with Hungary, and his hopes for the future.  6

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Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

BBJ

THE EDITOR SAYS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Robin Marshall EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS: Kálmán Béres, Zsófia Czifra,

Kester Eddy, Bence Gaál, David Holzer, Christian Keszthelyi, Gary J. Morrell, Nicholas Pongratz, Gergely Sebestyén, Robert Smyth, Bálint Szőnyi, Zsófia Végh.

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BBJ-PARTNERS

When I first became a journalist back in 1986, environmental issues where only just beginning to gain ground, albeit at what felt like an almost imperceptible pace. None but the very largest circulation newspapers had a dedicated environmental correspondent and policy wise the field was very much on the fringes. We have come a long way since then. The Greens in the United Kingdom had only changed their name from the Ecology Party in 1985, but slowly began to build a presence through local and European elections which, in turn, forced more mainstream parties to adopt green policies. The Greens had to wait until 2010, however, before returning its first publicly elected member of parliament.

As the environment has risen up the political agenda, so too it has gained strength in the corporate boardroom. For all the cynicism around “green washing,” companies are increasingly beginning to feel that they have no option but to adopt more sustainable practices. The drivers for this are complex and manifold, including pressure from customers and potential employees alike. As these two groups become ever more vocal, business interests have found they have had to move in the same direction. It is unthinkable in the current environment that a Budapest office would be built today without gaining green or wellness certification from one or more of BREEAM, LEED and WELL, not least because investors demand it, knowing a certified building is easier to let and easier to sell.

In the last few years, ESG (environmental, social and governance) has begun to trend as a catchall term for green issues influencing the investment community. Indeed, the Hungarian Business Leaders Forum (originally founded in 1992 on the initiative of the United Kingdom’s Prince Charles as the local branch of his Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum) will for the first time host a day-long online conference for regional and local leaders from the Visegrád Group of countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and

Slovakia) centered on ESG and socially responsible investment on April 27. The V4 ESG Conference will address key questions about ESG and investment, the ESG classification of stocks, portfolios and funds, ESG reporting guidelines, and the risks and opportunities arising from the impact of climate change on investments, among other important topics. The Budapest Business Journal is media sponsor for the event, and I will act as master of ceremonies.

On April 22, the day before this issue of the BBJ was published, the 51st annual Earth Day was marked among other ways in Hungary by the Government Debt Management Agency (ÁKK) issuing its first 30-year forint-denominated green bond (a fixed-income instrument that is specifically earmarked to raise money for climate and environmental projects). ÁKK has said it will issue the green bond on a quarterly basis and expects total issuance for the year to come to HUF 90 billion. The National Bank of Hungary, meanwhile, told Reuters on April 12 that it is committed to buying green government bonds under its quantitative easing program “to the extent needed to facilitate stable market conditions.”

We, too, are marking Earth Day by the introduction of a new column called Green Matters, a monthly (at least for now) roundup of environmental issues in Hungary and, to give some greater context, the region. The pandemic has underlined how we need to work together not just in the interests of public health, but also for the well-being of our very planet. You can argue about whether business has been forced into embracing sustainability or did so of its own free will, but that is not nearly as important as the fact that is has done so at all.

Robin Marshall Editor-in-chief

Photo by MTI / Zoltán Máthé

Photo by Fortepan / Hungarian Museum of Technology and Transport / Történeti Fényképek Gyűjteménye (Collection Of Historical Photographs) / Collection of Óbuda Shipyard

VISIT US ONLINE: WWW.BBJ.HU

INVESTING IN OUR ENVIRONMENTAL FUTURE

THEN & NOW

The Hungarian flag is placed alongside the Stars and Stripes of America on a U.S. SOC-R (Special Operations Craft-Riverine, an aluminum-hulled armored vessel that is used in river networks and designed to be air transportable) during an international special operations drill called “Black Swan 21” in Szolnok (111

km southeast of Budapest) on April 20, 2021. Szolnok is hosting a Hungarianled international military staff. In the black and white image from the Fortepan public archive, what is described as a “military motorboat” is being hoisted back onto the water at the shipyard of Óbuda in 1930.

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Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

News///macroscope

Industry Picks up the Pace, and so Does Inflation

Industrial production picked up in February, much to the surprise of many analysts.

However, they expect a slowdown to follow, due to the COVID-restrictions introduced in March.

Consumer Price of Plucked and Drawn Chicken in Hungary, 2002-2020 Average consumer price for 1 kg of plucked and draw chicken (HUF)

Poultry meat has been one of the items helping drive up consumer prices and thus inflation.

Source:

ZSÓFIA CZIFRA

Hungarian industry has started to show vital signs of life at last: in February, the volume of industrial production grew by 1.9% year-on-year while, based on working-day adjusted data, production rose by 3.9%, the latest data issued by the Central Statistical Office (KSH) shows.

Industrial output was 4.8% higher, compared to the previous month, according to seasonally and working-day adjusted data.

The majority of the manufacturing subsections contributed to the growth, KSH noted. The manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products grew and, at the same time, although transport equipment (representing the largest weight) dropped to a greater extent, food products, beverages and tobacco declined in a lesser degree.

In spite of the promising developments, production was

2.3% lower

in the first two months of the year than in the same period of the previous year.

Industrial output in February, according both to seasonally- and working-day adjusted indices, was 4.8% above the level of the previous month, and rose by 67% compared to the nadir of April 2020, surpassing even the prepandemic peak.

Analysts were satisfied with the latest industrial data; however, there is no consensus about the degree of contribution the first quarter industrial output might make to overall economic growth.

Above Expectation

Growth had surpassed expectations, said Takarékbank head analyst Gergely Suppan, adding that stabilization might continue in the coming months. March might even see additional momentum as car makers restarted production. Delayed demand can already be detected, so the industry will likely gradually pick up in the coming months.

According to Suppan, this year’s annual growth might be as high as 16% due to low base effects and new capacities and in April does not exclude outstanding growth

of

65%.

Industrial production might, therefore, contribute more than three percentage points to GDP growth, the analyst said.

Not everyone shares his view, though: ING Bank head analyst Péter Virovácz thinks there is a chance that, in spite of the promising industrial performance, first quarter GDP will shrink because industrial output shrank by 2.3% in the first two months of the year on a yearon-year basis. Even so, the February performance was beyond expectations.

Virovácz says the microchip and semiconductor shortage carries a great deal of uncertainty, therefore reaching full capacity in the automotive industry might take months. However, his expectations are for gradually expanding industrial production this year, which will thus support economic recovery.

Less enthusiastic about the February industrial data was Gábor Regős, head of the macroeconomics division at

Századvég Economic Research Co.: he emphasized that the February growth is only positive in the light of the microchip shortage in the automotive industry, and also a positive sign that most of the segments produced growth.

Due to the low base effect, industry will produce significant growth in the coming months; however, a lot depends on the pandemic situation. In the long run, high investment volume might contribute to the growth, he added.

Faster Inflation

In the meantime, inflation further accelerated in March: prices increased by 3.7% on an annual basis, while in one month, consumer prices increased by 0.7% on average. Annually, food prices were up by 2.7%, within which the price of edible oil jumped by 21.3%, flour was up by 8.2%, sugar prices rose by 7.6%, rice prices by 6.8%, the price of meals at canteens by 6.6% and egg prices by 6.4%.

A price decrease of 7.8% was recorded for pork and there was a 1.9% fall for cheese. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco became on average 10.3% more expensive, within which tobacco was up by 17.5%. Shoppers paid 3.6% more for consumer durables.

On the month, March consumer prices increased by 0.7% on average compared to February 2021. Food became 0.4% more expensive, within which eggs were up by 2.7%, edible oil by 1.6% and poultry meat up 1.4%, while pasta products were down 1.3% and salami, sausages and ham were 1.1% less for consumers. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco prices went

up by 1.3% on average, within which tobacco prices rose by 2.1%. Motor fuel prices were 6.6% higher.

In January-March 2021, consumer prices rose by 3.2% for all households on average, compared to the same period of previous year, and

by

3.1%

among pensioner households.

Analysts expect inflation to further accelerate in the foreseeable future.

Suppan of Takarékbank said that April inflation might jump above 5% due to further increases in fuel prices and a higher excise tax, but will fall back below 4% by the summer months. As for the full year, he expects annual average inflation to come to 3.9-4%.

ING’s Virovácz also thinks that CPI might go above 5% temporarily, but will return to the national bank’s tolerance band 3% +/- one percentage point and he calculates an average of 4% annual inflation in 2021. Dávid Németh, head analyst at K&H Bank, thinks that annual inflation will be around 3.8%.

Numbers to Watch in the Coming Weeks The Central Statistical Office will publish March labor market data on April 28. The next day, February earnings data will come out, followed by March industrial producer prices on April 30.

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Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

‘R Number’ Drops, Vaccines Arrive, Coronavirus ///roundup Herd Immunity Point Identified Galgóczi said, according to koronavirus. gov.hu. However, Janssen parent company Johnson & Johnson said that it had decided to “proactively delay the rollout” of the vaccine in Europe after becoming aware of an “extremely rare disorder” involving people with blood clots who got the jab.

Outdoor dining will be allowed again after 3.5 million Hungarians have been inoculated against the coronavirus, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a video message on Facebook on April 14.

NICHOLAS PONGRATZ

“When we reach that mark, and I hope we can by the middle of next week, by Wednesday or Thursday, terraces can open, and we’ll get back a piece of our old lives,” Orbán said. The three millionth Hungarian had been vaccinated the day before he spoke, and as of April 21, the figure stood at 3.363 million.

Restaurant and cafe terraces expect to be safely reopened by the end of this week (April 23), the president of the Hungarian Catering Industry Association László Kovács told business daily Világgazdaság (Global Economy). If the weather is particularly good, they expect a lot of traffic.

To bolster support for these businesses, the government say it has decided to order that the terrace fee be temporarily scrapped.

However, some still feel the easing of restrictions to be premature. After the government reopened all nonessential businesses once 2.5 million Hungarians had been vaccinated, the Hungarian Chamber of Physicians (MOK) said that an improvement in pandemic data and a reduction in the load on the healthcare system should

The China National Biotec Group’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine has been in use in Hungary (the first European Union country to adopt it) since February. More doses are to be ordered to make up for the shortfall caused by Johnson & Johnson’s decision to delay rollout of its Janssen jab. Photo by Zoltan Tarlacz / Shutterstock.com be the condition for reopening, as opposed to milestones in the vaccination rate.

MOK said COVID vaccines offer “a reassuring, proven high level of protection only seven days after the second jab,” while protection is “only partial” before that and “offers a false sense of security.”

Dr. János Szlávik, the head of the South Pest Central Hospital’s infectious diseases department, said herd immunity would require 60-80% of the population to get the coronavirus vaccine. He said the public’s inclination to get inoculated wanes after some time, as seen in other countries, but that tendency could be countered with vaccination campaigns.

Past Halfway

According to a weekly survey by the Central Statistical Office (KSH), the percentage of Hungarians who have firm

plans to get vaccinated against COVID19 or have already received their first jab stands at 59%, as of April 19.

Hungary’s chief medical officer Dr. Cecília Müller acknowledged the impact of the COVID vaccine rollout on improved pandemic numbers at a daily press briefing on April 20, according to koronavirus.gov. hu, the government’s official coronavirus website. On April 16, Müller highlighted that the reproduction number of the virus in Hungary has recently fallen under on.

An “R number” below one means a single person with COVID will infect, on average, at most one other person.

Hungary got its first delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine developed

by Janssen, which only requires a single jab, on April 13, the head of the epidemiology department of the National Public Health Center (NNK) Ágnes

Dr. János Szlávik, the head of the South Pest Central Hospital’s infectious diseases department, said herd immunity would require 60-80% of the population to get the coronavirus vaccine.

He said the public’s inclination to get inoculated wanes after some time, as seen in other countries, but that tendency could be countered with vaccination campaigns.

In order to make up for the missed delivery of the Janssen vaccine, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said that Hungary would be bringing forward deliveries of Chinese COVID vaccines it had ordered, according to a video message posted on Facebook.

Meanwhile, nearly half a million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech arrived in Hungary in the past two weeks, raising the total number of deliveries to over 2.1 million doses.

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Top Legal

EXECUTIVES In Hungary

2021 The most influential legal executives in the Hungarian economy

The Top Legal Executives magazine is a special annual publication of the Budapest Business Journal. It forms part of our “Top” brand, and is a sister publication to Top Expat CEOs in Hungary.

Like Top Expat CEOs, the magazine has a focus on people rather than policy. It presents the profiles of the most influential legal executives working in the Hungarian economy, focusing on outstanding achievements and how the Hungarian legal market is developing.

Those profiles of Hungary’s top “legal eagles” are set against a review of how the Hungarian legal system operates, including the functioning of the Curia (the Supreme Court of Hungary) and the Constitutional Court, as well as the Budapest and national bar associations, among other things.

Why Should I Subscribe?

• Provides an essential overview of how Hungary’s legal system operates.

• Get an insight into the biggest cases of 2020, and likely legal developments in 2021.

• Get to know the personalities behind the legal business.

• Read personal accounts from the country’s top lawyers, detailing how they got into law in the first place and what prompted their choice of specialty.

Please forward your subscription request to: circulation@bbj.hu, or order your copy in the webshop at bbj.hu

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Positive Prospects for Retail Sector The Hungarian retail market is regarded as being in a favorable position compared both to Central and Western Europe going forward, says Mike Edwards, head of capital markets at Cushman & Wakefield Hungary.

GARY J. MORRELL

Hungarians still enjoy the physical experience of shopping centers and the country is a long way behind its Central European peers regarding to shopping center stock. The country took time to bounce back from the global financial crisis of 2007-2008 and there have been no Budapest shopping center openings for a decade, he told the Cushman & Wakefield “What’s Next in Retail?” online presentation and discussion.

Purchases by e-commerce have doubled over the past two years as Hungary has moved closer to the online European average. Physical clothing and footwear outlets have been the most negatively impacted by the coronavirus and resulting lockdowns; Hungarian retail SMEs are under the most pressure.

Etele Plaza is located at a major Budapest residential and transportation location.

“Changes in the retail sector have been ongoing for the last five-to-10 years, although the evidence is that people like going out. Schemes will focus more attention on footfall with the two key areas consisting of food and beverage and leisure,” said Viktória Szabó, head of retail agency at Cushman & Wakefield Hungary.

Hungary has 55 shopping centers in Hungary, 22 of which are in Budapest according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Oversupply is not considered an issue with a total shopping center stock of 1.3 million sqm GLA (or 129 sqm GLA per 1,000 people), well below the CEE average.

The average footfall at the Pólus and Campona shopping centers has fallen by 30% over the past

year according to Mátyás Gereben, country manager at CPI Hungary, owner of the two developments.

Good News

“The good news is that footfall in retail parks has remained on the same level as pre-pandemic,” he said. Indeed, outside of the capital, SES Spar European Shopping Centers has delivered the S-Park Kaposvár (190 km southwest of Budapest).

“There is a need to communicate with shopping center tenants in order to find long term solutions. Occupancy stands

News | 5

at 96% in our centers and as people need to touch what they are buying, there is a need to make people feel safe in this environment,” he added.

The only major Budapest shopping center under construction is the EUR 300 million Etele Plaza by Futureal, which is due to open this September. The 55,000 sqm project has been ongoing for several years and was delayed several times due to concerns over consumer spending levels in the aftermath of the economic and financial crisis and, more recently, the impact of the coronavirus on the retail market. Etele Plaza is located at a transport hub at the Kelenföld railway station and Metro line 4.

“Changes in the retail sector have been ongoing for the last five-to-10 years, although the evidence is that people like going out. Schemes will focus more attention on footfall with the two key areas consisting of food and beverage and leisure.”

“This is not the easiest time to open a shopping center, although by September the project will be almost fully let. There has been no shopping center openings over the last 10 years and, in that time, purchasing power has risen,” commented Tibor Tatár, CEO of commercial and retail development at Futureal.

“The advantage of Etele Plaza is that it is at the third busiest transport hub in Budapest and this could possibly become the busiest. Further, there is a quarter of a million people living with a 10 minute radius. We have a strong tenant mix and a large food court with a 200 seat terrace,” he added.

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Business

DI P LOM AT IC A L LY S P E A K I N G : G E ORG I A N A M B A S S A D OR Z A A L G O G S A DZ E

Building a ‘Stronger, More Resilient World‘

Zaal Gogsadze, Georgia’s Ambassador to Hungary since November 3, 2018, discusses the country’s eyecatching “Corruption Freedom” data, bilateral trade and cultural relations with Hungary, and areas for boosting business.

ROBIN MARSHALL

BBJ: Georgia has been ranked very highly in a World Bank survey on bribery.

What do you put this down to?

Zaal Gogsadze: At the end of August 2020, World Bank Enterprise Surveys published new survey data where business owners and top managers in 581 firms in Georgia were interviewed from March 2019 through January 2020. Among 144 states worldwide, Georgia received exceptional recognition in the improvement of the Corruption Freedom Index and has been listed in the top 10 least corrupt countries. The percentage of companies in Georgia that have experienced at least one bribe payment request is only 1.3%. That figure reaches 10% in some European and Central Asian countries, and 12% in higher average income countries.

BBJ: How would you assess HungarianGeorgian bilateral relations?

ZG: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó has paid two visits to Georgia during the last nine months (most recently March 11-12 this year). Additionally, Minister of Defense Tibor Benkő visited Georgia last year. During his latest visit, Minister Szijjártó declared

Georgian Ambassador Zaal Gogsadze full support for Georgia’s aim to file an application for EU membership in 2024. To support integration, Hungary assigned a qualified expert and diplomat to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia in 2019.

Eximbank expressed readiness to provide a EUR 140 million credit line to advance company relations between our countries. We are preparing for the upcoming fourth session of the Intergovernmental Economic Commission, which will be held in Tbilisi this May. Negotiations regarding an agreement for the promotion and protection of investments are at the final stage and I believe that this will give a new impetus to our business opportunities.

Hungary provides 80 scholarships for Georgian students annually. In 2019, the Georgian Library was officially opened at ELTE university in Budapest. A Georgian language and culture course is also offered at ELTE, while a course on Hungarian language and culture us taught at Tbilisi State University. Next year, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries and we are looking forward to a new chapter in our bilateral cooperation.

BBJ: What are business links like? How much is invested in both directions, and in what sectors?

ZG: When it comes to bilateral economic cooperation, there is a big potential for business opportunities. The pandemic slowed down cooperation, but interest exists on both sides. The most prominent and successful example of Hungarian business in Georgia is Wizz Air. Unfortunately, the pandemic that is hitting international travel and tourism also affected Wizz Air flights to Georgia.

Air traffic in Georgia was completely suspended in March 2020. From February, Georgia has started gradual reopening and international flights were resumed. We are looking forward to Wizz Air flights restarting soon. Another good example of cooperation is the pharmaceutical industry, which is very well developed in Hungary.

BBJ: Where do you see potential to grow trade between the two states?

ZG: Agriculture is very promising; Hungarian agricultural products are high quality GMO free products. We are interested in sharing Hungary’s knowledge in this field. Other promising sectors are tourism, food processing, manufacturing, energy sector and

connectivity. In the post-pandemic world, business will have new opportunities when people-to-people contacts and direct communication will be restored.

BBJ: Why should a Hungarian or multinational business invest in Georgia?

ZG: In 2014, Georgia signed an Association Agreement with the European Union, which includes a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA). In 2016, Georgia also signed an agreement with European Free Trade Association countries, giving Georgian products duty free access to the markets of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Since then, Georgia has concluded FTAs with the People’s Republic of China (including Hong Kong) and most recently with the United Kingdom, which came into force in January 2021. Additionally, Georgia has FTAs with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, as well as our neighbors, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia. As a result, Georgia provides duty-free access to a 2.3 billion-person market. This trend is ever expanding, with general schemes of preference for Georgia being applied

by Canada, Japan and the United States, resulting in lower tariffs on 3,400 goods

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Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

exported from the country. A proposed series of FTAs with Israel, India and America are also under development.

Being a major regional transit hub, Georgia offers significant distribution channels and opportunities through newly renovated and expanded transportation infrastructure, which includes upgraded highways, international railway lines (connecting China and Turkey), a seaport network and three international airports, Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi.

The country has low utility costs, competitive salaries and one of the lowest tax rates, which make it one of the most cost effective locations in Europe and the wider region. Over 75% of electricity is generated from hydro and wind, making it not only cheap but also green. Since 2017, corporate profit tax on reinvested profit is 0% and the social security contribution is 2%. According to the World Bank Group, Georgia’s stripped-down tax scheme has produced the third lowest overall tax rates in the world. Furthermore, the country has four free industrial zones, offering additional tax incentives.

“When it comes to bilateral economic cooperation, there is a big potential for business opportunities.

The pandemic slowed down cooperation, but interest exists on both sides.”

The country ranks seventh in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index in 2020. Starting a business or registering a property takes hours only and can be done by visiting a single location. The Trace International Matrix 2020 ranks Georgia first in terms of the least need to interact with government while doing business.

BBJ: Finally, what impact is COVID-19 having on life in Georgia right now?

ZG: Now the vaccination process is underway, restrictions are being lifted gradually and we are preparing for the upcoming summer season. Tourism is a very important sector of our economy and Georgia has opted to lift restrictions for fully vaccinated travelers from any country.

All visitors who have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine are permitted to enter the country without a need to present a negative PCR test. Non-vaccinated travelers must present a negative PCR test result taken within 72 hours of travel and are required to take a second test at their own expense on the third day of their stay.

The International Monetary Fund updated its World Economic Outlook in April 2021. According to the forecast, the Georgian economy will grow only by 3.5% in 2021, 5.8% in 2022 and 5.5% in 2023.

The government will present a 10-year development plan in May, which will convey its vision of how to emerge from the coronavirus crisis. We must believe in science and do our part to protect each other.

United, we will overcome this crisis and build a stronger and more resilient world.

Company ///news Bosch Establishing HUF 6 bln SSC in Vecsés German engineering giant Bosch will set up a HUF 6 billion shared services center in Vecsés (20 km southeast of Budapest), Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on April 12. The government is supporting the investment, which will create 225 jobs, with a HUF 2.1 bln grant, and the SSC will provide HR services for Bosch units in five countries in the region, he added. Szijjártó noted that 131 SSCs operate in Hungary, employing 64,000 people. About 81% of those SSC staff have a college or university degree, he added. András Somogyi, the country HR director for Bosch, said Hungary is a partner and investment target of strategic importance for Bosch; the group employs some 15,000 people in Hungary, he added. Somogyi said continuous development can only be sustained in a predictable business environment, which is why Bosch picked Hungary for the regional SSC.

Commerzbank Launches Sale of Business in Hungary Commerzbank AG is launching the sale of its banking business in Hungary, Bloomberg has said, citing people familiar with the matter. The business could be valued at around EUR 100 million, the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information, told Bloomberg. The experts said the business could attract interest from Belgium's KBC and Austria's Raiffeisen. Bloomberg reported earlier on Commerzbank AG's plans to withdraw from Hungary, citing an internal memo it had seen.

EU-FIRE Inaugurates HUF 2 bln PPE Plant EU-FIRE inaugurated a HUF 2 billion plant that will turn out protective equipment, cannulas and parts for ventilators and resuscitators in Kocsord (295 km northeast of Budapest) on April 13, according to economics website novekedes.hu (Growth).

The investment was supported by more than HUF 1.5 bln in government grant money earmarked to make Hungary more self-sufficient in the manufacture of healthcare supplies, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga said at the virtual ceremony. He noted that the government is subsidizing HUF 80 bln of investments at 74 companies under the scheme.

Ten of those investments have already been completed, he added.

Varga said the investment in Kocsord is the first of three in the region, worth a combined HUF 10 bln, that aim to reduce the country's exposure to imported medical supplies. When the investments are completed, there will be capacity to produce 230 million syringes, 190 mln needles, 50 mln rubber gloves, 500,000 scalpels, 100,000 forceps and 100,000 surgical scissors a year, he added.

Ford Opens HUF 3 bln Logistics Base Ford Motor Company inaugurated a HUF 3 billion 10,000 sqm regional logistics base in Biatorbágy (20 km west of Budapest) on April 12, according to autopro.hu. Automotive companies are moving more and more engineering, development and service functions to Hungary, in addition to manufacturing, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at the event. Ford now employs 624 high-qualified Hungarian engineers and economists, he added. More than 1,700 U.S.based companies employ around 100,000 workers in Hungary, the minister noted. Ford Europe regional director Yiannis Tavanidis said the base is the company's first so-called Rapid Regional Parts Center in Europe and currently employs 55 people. The automaker has an ever-expanding supplier network in Hungary, with more than 40 companies and 69,000 workers making and supplying parts for Ford plants.

MOL Issues HUF 35.5 bln of Securities Under BGS Hungarian oil and gas company MOL issued HUF 35.5 billion of 10-year securities under the Bond Funding for Growth Scheme (BGS) of the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) on April 8, according to an announcement on the website of the Budapest Stock Exchange. Yield on the bonds, which carry a 1.9% coupon, was 1.926%, 67 basis points under midswaps. The bond is amortized: MOL will repay 10% in 2028, 10% in 2029, 10% in 2030 and 70% at maturity. The company said on April 6 that it was considering another issue under the central bank bond scheme. MOL raised HUF 36.6 bln in a BGS issue in September 2020.

A year before that, it sold HUF 28.4 bln of bonds under the scheme. The MNB launched BGS in the summer of 2019 to beef up Hungary’s relatively small corporate bond market. The program allocation stands at HUF 1.15 trillion. In other MOL news, the company board approved a proposal to pay a HUF 75.9 billion dividend

Business | 7

at a meeting on April 15, according to an announcement on the website of the Budapest Stock Exchange.

Empowered by a government decree issued under state-of-emergency powers, MOL’s board took the decision on AGM proposals in lieu of shareholders, because of a ban on gatherings to contain the spread of the coronavirus. In its proposal, the board had said it decided to reinstate base dividend payments, after putting all of 2019 profit into retained earnings because of the coronavirus crisis, “at a level similar to previous years” trend [...] having considered the 2020 results, the strength of the balance sheet, future investment plans and uncertainties of external market conditions.” MOL booked a net loss of HUF 15.9 bln last year. In 2019, it had net income of HUF 223.2 bln.

Roche Adding 250 Jobs at its Budapest SSC Swiss healthcare company Roche will add 250 positions at its shared service center in Budapest this year, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on April 13, according to origo.hu. The government is providing HUF 104 million in training support for the new hires, Szijjártó noted. He said the government has ordered a new drug from Roche to treat COVID patients. The drug could arrive within days, making Hungary one of the first countries in the world to use the medicine, he added.

Martin Kikstein, the managing director of Roche's local services unit, said the decision to expand the SSC is an acknowledgement of local competency. The SSC's close to 1,500 staff do business with partners in 60 countries, he added.

He said Roche seeks to be a partner in healthcare with Hungary, noting that the company donated almost HUF 370 million in medicines here last year. The Roche SSC in Budapest, established in 2006, is the biggest of the company's three around the world.

Waberer’s in HUF 12 bln Fleet Upgrade Listed Hungarian hauler Waberer’s has announced a HUF 12 billion upgrade of its fleet, in a statement on the website of the Budapest Stock Exchange. Waberer’s said that it has agreed to purchase 440 new trucks, including 250 New Generation Volvo heavy-duty trucks and 190 of Renault’s TCK Evolution models. The new trucks will be put into service for domestic and international deliveries in the second half of 2021. “The purchase of these new trucks is not only beneficial for the company’s ambitious goals towards cutting emissions and lowering fuel consumption, but it also takes driver comfort to an even higher level with excellent drivability and safety,” Waberer’s said.

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Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

The Case for Gold Today Given what he calls strong supporting macro tail-winds, corporate finance columnist Les Nemethy looks at the case for investing in gold, the “ultimate monetary insurance.”

The last time I recommended gold as an investment was in April 2020, at which time it traded below USD 1,700.

By August, it ran up to over USD 2,060.

Since then, gold has gone through what, in my opinion, was a temporary correction, and has been trading again in the low USD 1,700s. As of the date of this article, gold is again showing some momentum, recently closing at USD 1,777. While there are never any guarantees on future performance, it appears that gold is once again well positioned for a breakout. The reasons supporting this are set out below.

In an environment of virtually every asset inflating, gold has been left out.

Indeed, over the past decade, gold has performed poorly as an asset class. It has also recently been left behind by most commodities: In a market where high-flying tech stocks sell for 100-200x earnings and even more pedestrian publicly listed companies are selling in the range of 30x earnings, it is refreshing to find gold mines for as low as 4-5x earnings.

Golden Decade

When gold performs, it can do so spectacularly well. Gold moved from USD 243 in December 1970 to USD 1,820 in January 1980, and from USD 401 in April 2001 to USD 2,044 in November 2011, according to macrotrends.net; that is five or six fold moves over the course of a decade. Are we set for another golden decade?

The Corporate Finance Column Average Return of Commodities

0

from November 2020 to April 16, 2021

-1.5

-3.5

U.S. Federal Budget Deficits and Surpluses 12-month Rolling Sum

1982

2000

2020 Source: U.S. Treasury

Source: Capital IQ

There are strong macro tailwinds if governments use digital currency as supporting gold. The majority of developed policy instruments (e.g. putting expiry countries are engaged in both printing dates on digital currency, or making it money and deficit spending on an spendable only on certain types of goods). unprecedented scale. In a past article, Gold has a low correlation to equities I explained how this is likely to result and most other asset classes. The World in inflation (see “What’s in our Future, Gold Council suggests that keeping 4-5% Inflation or Deflation?”, December 26, 2020). of an investment portfolio in gold creates The magnitude of deficits today an excellent hedge, (e.g. portfolio return far surpass those of the 2008-2009 is augmented for a given degree of risk). recession. Fiscal stimulus direct to consumers also distinguishes the current ‘Crack up Boom’ A number of economists are predicting situation from 2008-9, increasing the a “crack up boom,” where money chances of prolonged inflation. printing and deficits lead to a rapid The price of gold correlates inversely inflation, complete loss of confidence with real interest rates. Global debt in fiat currencies and eventual exceeds 350% of GDP. Rising interest currency collapse. rates are likely to trigger yield curve “In any monetary reset, countries control (e.g. governments buy bonds across various maturities to keep interest will come together and sit around the table,” James Rickards, the editor of rates low across a broad spectrum of the yield curve). This will help governments, the “Strategic Intelligence” financial newsletter, explains in his 2016 book individuals and corporations manage “The New Case for Gold.” the interest costs of unprecedented “One can think of that meeting as a debt levels. Yield curve control would result in very negative real interest rates, poker game. When you sit down at the poker table, you want a big pile of chips. providing huge impetus for gold to rise.

Gold functions like a pile of poker chips Many claim that bitcoin diminishes the in this context. This doesn’t mean that appetite for gold. I see a different trend: the world automatically goes to a gold As cash is displaced by digital currencies standard. It does mean that your voice at and bitcoin, gold will be the only way the table is going to be a function of the to stay “off grid” and maintain privacy size of your gold hoard,” Rickards adds. and anonymity. This desire will increase

If major central banks, the largest holders of gold, would revalue and make a market for gold at say USD 50,000/oz, most countries would have sufficient gold reserves to collateralize national debt. This would be the simplest and most elegant solution to the world’s debt crisis.

In conclusion, gold is the ultimate monetary insurance. There are some valid reasons for holding up to 5% of your portfolio in gold. Since global gold holdings are a small fraction of bond and equity holdings, even a small shift towards gold could have a large impact on price.

Disclaimer: This article is not to be construed as investment advice. Readers are advised to perform their own due diligence.

The author owns positions in physical gold, ETF’s and gold-related equities.

Les Nemethy is CEO of Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisers Ltd. (www.europhoenix.com), a Central European corporate finance firm.

A former World Banker, he is author of Business Exit Planning (www.businessexitplanningbook.com) and a past president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary.

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Hungary to Draw HUF 6 tln From EU Fund for Solar Panel Development Hungary would like to draw up to EUR 17 billion, almost HUF 6 trillion, from the EUR 750 bln EU recovery fund to support household solar panels and energy-efficient heating systems, State Secretary Attila Steiner, of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology, said at the 11th Solar Conference on April 13, writes conservative daily Magyar Nemzet (Hungarian Nation). At the online event of the Hungarian Solar Panel Association, the politician responsible for the development of the circular economy, energy and climate policy added that a tender, which is expected to exceed HUF 100 bln, may appear this summer as well, in order to encourage the development of complex energy solutions. According to napi.hu (Daily), Steiner, who is responsible for developing the circular economy and for energy and climate policy, said the grants will support complex energy solutions in around 80,000 homes. He reiterated that it was the government’s goal to triple the country's solar panel capacity to 6GW by 2030.

Green Bond to be Issued

by Hungary on Earth Day The Government Debt Management Agency (ÁKK) said Hungary would issue its first 30-year forint-denominated green bond on April 22, Earth Day, in an announcement on its website. ÁKK will issue the green bond on a quarterly basis and expects total issuance for the year to come to HUF 90 billion. The National Bank of Hungary (MNB), meanwhile, told Reuters on April 12 that it is committed to buying green government bonds under its quantitative easing program. “The MNB is prepared to purchase these instruments to the extent needed to facilitate stable market conditions,” the central bank added.

In order to meet this goal, the MNB said it was prepared to increase its share to similar levels as in the case of other longterm government bonds. The pace of its purchases would be flexible, the bank added, and it would closely monitor the market and demand for the new bond.

Hungary May Achieve Solar Power Goal Before 2030 According to the National Energy Strategy and the National Energy and Climate Plan, Hungary’s objective is to increase its solar power plant capacity to almost 6,500 MW by 2030 and to almost 12,000 MW by 2040, writes economic news website portfolio.hu. With the well-scheduled

implementation of the developments, the 2030 target will be achieved sooner and will be sustainable within 10 years, according to Tamás Tóth, deputy chairman of the Hungarian Energy and Utilities Regulatory Authority (MEKH). He added that the field of renewables in Hungary is developing rapidly, as the total solar capacity has reached 2,000 MW, and new solar power plants are being built almost all over the country.

Hungarians Waste up to HUF 50,000 of Food Each Year An average Hungarian family could save up to HUF 50,000 a year with conscious, home-based food management, the Climate Policy Institute said on April 6, according to origo.hu. The current rate of food waste is also a serious environmental problem. Reducing waste could become an important factor in lowering the carbon footprint of food production in the future. It was noted that, in Hungary, an estimated 1.8 million tonnes of food are thrown away each year, a third of which is generated by households.

MET Group Partnering With Navitasoft, Dunamenti Power Plant

according to novekedes.hu (Growth). The project “will examine potential alternative methods of utilizing renewable energy sources, and how optimized automated algorithms can balance weather-dependent, intermittent power generation,” MET Group said. The project involves installing a close to 4 MW two-hour capacity battery at the Dunamenti Power Plant in Százhalombatta (30 km south of Budapest), and using the experience gained there to develop an aggregator platform that boosts the flexibility of the power generation market. The HUF 1.6 billion R&D project is supported by a HUF 399 million grant from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund.

Regional Roundup Bulgaria’s Bobov Dol TPP plans to build PV plant Bulgarian thermal power plant Bobov Dol intends to build a photovoltaic park at the site of a former ash dump in Dupnitsa municipality, news portal SeeNews reported, citing data published by the regional environment inspectorate.

The coal-fired power plant plans to deploy solar panels on the surface of its recultivated ash pond Suho Dere, which spreads over some 123 hectares near the village of Palatovo, according to the investment proposal. The estimated cost of the project was not disclosed. The coalfired power plant located in Kyustendil region, in southwestern Bulgaria, has an installed capacity of 630 MW. In 2008, the government sold the power plant to local consortium Energy MK, which remains its sole owner.

Polish Coal Plant EU’s biggest CO2 emitter in 2020

Swiss-based energy company MET Three Polish coal power plants were Group has said it is partnering with among the top 10 biggest emitters of Hungarian software company Navitasoft carbon dioxide in the European Union and Hungary’s Dunamenti Power Plant to last year, up from two in 2019, according develop a solution to the ups and downs of to Notesfrompoland.com. Bełchatów weather-dependent green power production, power station in central Poland once again

Business | 9

topped the ranking as by far the bloc’s biggest single emitter. Six of the remaining nine places in the list, which was compiled by climate think-tank Ember, based on EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) data, were taken by German coal power plants.

The final spot went to an Austrian steel plant. Bełchatów, which like the other Polish power stations on the list is run by a state-owned company, saw its CO2 emissions drop by 8.1% year-on-year to reach 30.1 metric tonnes (mt). That still puts it well ahead of Germany’s Nuerath plant, which was in second place with 18.7 mt. Moving up to fourth on the list was the Kozienice hard coal power station, located south of Warsaw, which emitted 13.8 mt of CO2. Meanwhile the Opole plant in southern Poland entered the top 10 after a 38.1% year-on-year increase in CO2 emissions moved it into ninth. Poland still generates nearly 73% of its electricity from coal, the highest proportion in the EU.

Serbia Plans to Close Coal-fired Power Plants in Next Decades Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlović said on April 13 that 2021 would be a year of major changes in the mining and energy sector and that Serbia would shut down its coal-fired power plants over the next few decades. In an appearance on K1 TV, Mihajlović said environmental protection was not only about changing citizens’ awareness, but also about amending an investment plan that should be based on electricity and heat generation from renewable energy sources, state news agency Tanjug reported. “People must be aware of the fact that there will be no thermal electric power plants in about 20 or 30 years, but we will be producing everything, electricity and heat, from renewable energy sources, i.e. with hydropower, gas-fired and solar power plants, as well as with wind farms, biomass power plants and similar plants, because we no longer have the money to pay for [fossil fuel] emissions,” Mihajlović said.

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Special Report

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Human Resources

How the pandemic has hit the human resources industry in Hungary, and what the lasting impacts might be.

Reshaping HR in the Light of COVID-19

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Labor Swings and the Rise of Home Office: HR During the Pandemic

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Headhunting Across Region Reveals Wide Range of Managerial Skills, Behavior Patterns

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Recruitment Agencies Listing

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Temp Agencies Listing

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Recruitment Market Eases, but Executive Search as Tough as Ever As in so many sectors of the economy, executive search and recruitment companies suffered a hit with the onset of the COVID pandemic last spring. However, by the last quarter of 2020, demand had largely recovered, although both clients and targets had subtly tweaked their requirements.

even if there is a crisis, you have to fill these positions. But when you are looking at recruitment, if you need 15 development engineers, in 2020 maybe it was enough to have 12-13 engineers.

So they were probably hit harder than we were,” he reasons.

Subtle Changes

However, with the upswing in demand came new, sometimes subtle changes to client requirements. “We have much more financial manager-related searches. The majority of companies are cost-cutting focused, and traditional finance workers are not good enough now. You need more business-oriented finance people, not only numberoriented. They have to understand the business much better,” says Enczi.

While Seres’ also experienced an upturn in demand for smart financial managers, he notes in addition a growing requirement for business leaders to have crisis management skills.

“For sure, we were searching for lots of number one, GM positions, [people] who could better handle the crisis situation, and also lead the company over the long term,” he says.

KESTER EDDY

Two months into 2020, and Judit Enczi was looking forward to a good business year. Within a fortnight, the beginning of the pandemic changed all that.

“Almost all of our clients stopped their ongoing searches, training [courses] and everything, 90% were stopped,” Enczi, managing partner at executive search company Hill International in Budapest, told the Budapest Business Journal.

The freeze lasted for two months before business began to pick up, and by summer things got busy. “I had the feeling that fewer people went on a proper holiday [than normal]. It was only mid-August when people disappeared, otherwise it was a busy summer,” she says.

The story was similar for Máté Seres, managing partner for manufacturing and automotive with Arthur Hunt in Hungary.

“We had very tough second and third quarters. 2020 started well, but of course, after March, it was quite tough.

After September, the market was good,” he says, although the recruitment segment was hit harder over the entire 12 months “by probably around 15-20%” compared to executive search, which took a hit closer to 10%.

“We were above 90% of our target for 2020, so we did a great year. You know, when there is a manager’s position [vacant], you need it, so,

Máté Seres In addition he notes changes in the requirements for human resource managers, not so much for recruitment but “more for the retention of the people, so that they [employees] feel better, so they feel that the companies care about them, even if they can’t go to the office”.

But, considering the continual complaints about labor shortages prior to the pandemic, this begs the question: can such people be found “off the shelf”? At lower levels, things have improved, but at the top, “not easily,” is the common response.

“Two years ago, when a company put out an advertisement, they had maybe five applicants, even no applicants.

Really the market was good. This has changed. HR managers have told me that they have maybe 100 or even more applicants for advertised positions. This is a characteristic of a crisis,” says Seres.

Tough Going

Judit Enczi

But for specific, highly skilled managerial positions, the head hunter’s job remains tough. “If you put out an ad, you will not find the person qualified for your position, because the best guys, and especially the best managers, are in

Special Report | 11 a position. Even during a crisis, probably more than 95% of good managers have a job,” says Seres. “So, the approach is the same, you have to call them, because they will not apply for a position.”

Indeed, in some ways, the challenge of finding top people has got even harder, Enczi argues, since potential targets have become risk averse.

“We can [still fill positions], but we have to contact double or triple as many people as we did two years ago. The willingness to change is low. They don’t want to take the risk. They don’t know how to start at a new company if they are already working from home office,” she says.

Moreover, one of the factors driving people to change jobs in the past, a dislike of colleagues or the boss, has to a large extent disappeared because of home working.

“Even if you don’t like your [current] place, you don’t meet your colleagues that frequently. You are at home, and it’s OK like that at the moment. This is how people think,” she says.

“We can [still fill positions], but we have to contact double or triple as many people as we did two years ago. The willingness to change is low. They don’t want to take the risk.

They don’t know how to start at a new company if they are already working from home office.”

And even the factor of last resort, money, seems unable to trump the current mood in Enczi’s experience. “It’s not about salary. Some people just say: This is the third wave of COVID, please don’t even contact me. They are just not taking any risk.”

Does this mean the executive search market is set to remain permanently sluggish? Not at all, Enczi opines. “It’s a temporary thing. There will be people available in the future. I hope we can stay at this level, as we started this first quarter. But next year, definitely, I could even expect 20% growth.”

Prepare for the Future now: Labor Shortages set to Return Thirteen months into the early and hire early to capture coronavirus crisis, many employers “the best talent in advance of the are in “standby mode,” waiting for market picking up,” he says. developments in the pandemic It is, naturally, difficult to find situation, for government a balance; hire too early and a decisions on reopening, or for company risks having labor standing their markets to pick up, Csongor underutilized. But the current Juhász, chief executive of situation in industries such as Prohuman, a recruitment company hotels and catering is liable to turn with offices across the region, suddenly for the better as the effects tells the BBJ. of vaccination take hold, and many However, more courageous Hungarians who have returned home companies have decided to move as a result of the downturn will likely

up sticks once more when Western Europe recovers, Juhász argues.

“Employment opportunities in Western European countries, including hotel and catering, remain highly attractive for Hungarians. We expect these countries to welcome them back with open arms as they are rushing to rebuild their economies,” he says.

And, as vaccination levels reach a threshold level, the Hungarian market could once again “quickly face a labor shortage situation,” he warns.

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Special Report

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Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

Reshaping HR in the Light of COVID-19 Many companies in Hungary responded to the first wave of the pandemic by cost cutting and delayed procurement. Current crisis management has shifted the focus onto smooth remote work solutions, new communication channels and online administration tools.

As for the future, consultancy, predictivity and analytics-based decision making are all on the agenda. ÉVA KASZAP

“There is nothing permanent except change,” as the Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus so presciently put it. The COVID-19 pandemic is fundamentally shifting the way we work.

According to international experts, the pandemic is serving as an accelerator for one of the greatest workplace transformations of our lifetime.

Among most common factors are the ramping up of employee training, investment in remote working and skillbased hiring, as well as the growing importance of global interconnectedness.

These are all elements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (an expression apparently first coined by the German government back in 2011) and driven by smart technologies and supercomputing.

In Hungary, the labor market encounters similar difficulties generated by the intensively changing legal, employment, and economic environment.

A survey lead by Prof. József Poór at the Management and HR Research Center of the Hungarian Agrarian Life Sciences University (MATE) reveals a comprehensive picture of how the Hungarian HR industry responded to COVID-19 related challenges in the first phase of the pandemic.

As a first step, Hungarian companies adapted four general crisis management measures, the study finds. These were an increase of organizational efficiency, overall cost reductions, procurement and spending postponements, and the introduction of new strategies.

When it came to direct HR-related policies, the survey highlights that most focused on introducing new health and safety measures, the creation of

home office and replacement plans and assisting employees’ social difficulties.

“More than a third of responding organizations see the economic downturn caused by coronavirus as an opportunity,” Poór explains to the Budapest Business Journal. “According to respondents, this possibility lies in the completion of digitalization and the implementation of more effective internal communication.”

This is confirmed by Dávid Bauer, HR director of Hungarian oil and gas giant, MOL. He he thinks the current crisis can help uncover hidden opportunities while it also helps unleash potentials that have not been exploited so far.

“I surely believe that we can use this situation for our own benefit,” he tells the BBJ. “In MOL we believe that personal contact is a key factor to boost creativity and create team spirit, thus we follow a hybrid working model rather than full home office,” he explains.

“When people are working remotely, information flow plays the greatest role. We opened numerous new communication channels with the support of our IT, taking into consideration the multiple job functions, tasks, and the different age groups we have in our company, and their specific needs. Within HR, beside our regular

He also points to the fact that, according to a joint International Labor Organization-Eurofound report published in February 2017, it is a misconception to say that WFH is less productive than working in an employer’s office. The study highlights the lack of travel time and greater flexibility provided by home environment as an advantage. However, the price of this is a mixed up work-life balance (the morning commute helps separate work from home), and the lower levels of the average home ICT environment.

When asked about MOL’s new remote hiring and recruitment practices, Bauer said that the firm had managed to roll out a digitalized onboarding process prior to the pandemic that has served as a big asset during the present crisis as well.

Last year, the group organized an online job fair with 22 hours of professional content, more than 30 presenters, 230 listeners and two podcasts, and generated more than 500 CVs. “Our fresh graduate talent program, GROWWW also went online successfully with the participation of 84 fresh graduates,” Bauer says.

MOL has introduced an array of new employment options as well to avoid considerable redundancies, Bauer says. He added that partnering with relevant bodies, trade unions and work councils has helped the oil and gas giant successfully incorporate flexible working models into its HR strategy.

“Managers can request part-time employment and they can decide about partial or complete exemption from work, or standby,” Bauer explains.

“We introduced home office work in all jobs where working from home was possible. Our colleagues doing critical Dávid Bauer work in terms of business continuity, however, kept working from the sites to operate our refineries, thus and prompt communication tools, we maintaining the energy supply of the introduced online training and new online entire region,” Bauer says. administration solutions,” Bauer adds.

“As we provide smart phones for all The proportion of those aged 15-64 our employees with limitless mobile working regularly from home was 5.3% internet access, there were no additional on average in the EU, while in Hungary expenses to be compensated in the recent it was only 1.2% in 2019, Poór says, situation. We provided more than 400 quoting data from Eurostat, the EU’s laptops in Hungary for our employees statistical body. According to economic to help those working parents whose research institute, GKI, the share of tele- children did not have the equipment for and home-office workers in Hungary distance learning,” he adds. increased significantly to 16% in 2020 Organizations that keep in mind the due to lockdown measures. natural human needs of their employees This new situation presents significant during a crisis, such as security, stability new tasks for HR departments. To ensure andpredictability, are on the right track, smooth operations, teleworking and home Poór says. The fundamental question office ICT security became a key priority. for our future world is environmental Recruitment strategists say that the awareness, he adds. proverb Heraclitus first spoke sometime Consultancy, moving forward from in the late 6th to early 5th century BCE is proactivity to predictivity and analyticsstill valid today: “Nothing is permanent based decision making, without except change,” Poór agrees. losing the human touch, will be the Hungarian regulations emphasize that cornerstones of future HR operation, working from home (WFH) is different Bauer explains. from teleworking. The latter has been Hybrid working models, engaged regulated in the Hungarian Labor Code talent management and what he calls for a while, while the concept of home “customer-oriented employer value office is not. Teleworking is governed propositions” will also be particularly by the employment contract and the important. Systems and processes were job description attached to it; WFH tested during 2020 and again this year; it was brought to life by the epidemic is time to draw conclusions from what we situation, which may be canceled after have learnt and implement them into new the epidemic, Poór explains. routines, the MOL HR director says.

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Labor Swings and the Rise of Home Office: HR During the Pandemic

ROBIN MARSHALL

BBJ: How has the pandemic affected the way recruitment and temporary agencies go about their work?

Csongor Juhász: During the first wave of the pandemic, thousands asked for our help in finding work. Because of the lock down, many of our clients had fewer positions to offer, while in some segments, such as food, logistics and shipping, demand for workforce grew rapidly. This sudden appearance of so

Csongor Juhász many people while we had to ensure protection, social distancing, and extra hygienic safety measures, posed a great challenge. From a period of labor shortages, we moved very quickly to a situation where a lot of people were looking for work through us, so our databases suddenly increased. Of course, we know that this situation is temporary because many people are only available

for work out of necessity; as soon as the world will open up again, they will return to their original professions.

Tammy Nagy-Stellini: For obvious reasons there are fewer personal meetings, and rather more on video calls, both with clients and candidates.

At the same time, clients are much more cautious about the new head count added, whilst candidates are much more cautious when making a change in employment. Home office has become even more important within every company, including Hays.

BBJ: How have businesses adapted their hiring plans during the crisis?

CsJ: The impact of the second wave on the economy clearly surfaced in the labor market in January this year, which was indicated, among other things, by the increase in the number of unemployed.

The specific nature of the labor market also contributed to this, as sectors with a larger need for labor force in November-December, such as trade, food, seasonal service providers or product manufacturers, were at a “standstill” in January. So, regardless of the pandemic, fewer people are employed at the beginning of the year compared to other periods, but it usually increases in the following months. At the same time, the Hungarian economy could easily be short of labor again, when those who changed jobs due to the epidemic return to their original profession, and it would not be surprising for me if a large proportion of foreign labor was needed again as early as this year. A new problem in this regard is that epidemiological restrictions and the degree of vaccination are very different in non-EU countries. Legislators will have to address the challenge of making the employment of foreign labor less bureaucratic and time-consuming on one hand, while providing stronger control then before on the other.

TN-S: Payment and work-life balance are still key drivers for candidates, while home office and a stable and safe workplace has also become a priority when it comes to changes.

BBJ: What are your aspirations for the industry and your business this year and next?

BBJ: Are any of these changes permanent, or will we see a return to the status quo ante once restrictions are fully lifted?

Cs J: It is likely that home office and remote working will stay with us much more widely than before, as recent months have proven that it works well for the most part. I also think that video conferencing has become an important part of our business culture and will stay in use a lot more than before, but in many cases it will not be able to replace personal interaction. It also seems clear that workers will expect higher standards of hygiene than before.

TN-S: I do believe once restrictions are fully lifted people will decide whether to meet personally or online. I am sure more online meetings will take place compared to before the pandemic though, personally, I believe nothing can fully replace face-to-face meetings.

You can get close to it; however, face-toface interactions are important. Flexible home office policies are here to stay.

BBJ: How have candidates altered their demands when looking for placements?

Tammy Nagy-Stellini TN-S: Initially, companies froze their hiring plans, some being cancelled altogether, others postponed. In the last quarter of the year, we could see positions being re-opened and in some areas, like IT, hiring increased right away. In general, head count increase is and has been more cautious than before; companies are more cost cautious and look into alternative solutions such as contracting and temping.

CsJ: There is consensus within the industry that, until the ratio of vaccination reaches a satisfactory level, companies will be more cautious, so the growth forecasted last year will certainly be slower than expected, but then the recovery could be rapid in the production and industrial sectors.

All this could be challenged by any disruptions in the logistics chains of raw material and parts supply.

Unfortunately, we already hear from our partners that there have been partial shutdowns in factories due to such problems. Some fear that in the second half of the year this situation may cause significant difficulties in maintaining production in some industries.

TN-S: For Hays, the last year has been about further diversification in industries and services, and I expect the business to continue growing as it has been. Our revenue and projects are both up year-on-year and I expect us to continue pushing further growth opportunities.

INSIDE VIEW

Cybersecurity Services Provided by ManpowerGroup Tamás Fehér Managing Director MANPOWERGROUP HUNGARY

The coronavirus pandemic has opened a new chapter in the history of cybersecurity.

The number of cyberattacks has increased manifold in some countries. Hackers, fraudsters and spammers exploit the widening security gaps caused by remote working and take advantage of people’s increased fears.

Many companies had to provide remote working opportunities to a large number of employees overnight. On the one hand, this resulted in the suspension of certain security requirements. On the other, hardware used by employees in their homes is usually less well protected against outside attacks than computers in the corporate network.

In many cases, users are lured to data phishing sites stealing banking data or requesting them to download malware such as ransomware with the false promise of providing important coronavirus-related information. As a result, you need to extend your focus beyond technology when trying to protect yourself against cyberattacks. You should also consider your business processes, data management and user awareness.

ManpowerGroup’s Experis IT business is committed to raising customers’ security awareness, protecting them more efficiently, as well as monitoring and detecting cyberattack attempts. Experis is the leading cybersecurity and monitoring provider in Israel, which is a great reference in itself considering that this country is globally known as the cradle of cybersecurity.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises are increasingly affected by cyberattacks.

Based on market data, 43% of attacks are targeted at this segment and the ratio is rising. Although most SMEs are not appropriately prepared to fend off such attacks, they cannot afford to spend millions on preparation and audits. For this reason, Experis designed a cost-effective cybersecurity audit package providing fast and efficient support to SMEs’ management and IT managers.

As part of this package, Experis evaluates processes and technical preparedness, provides recommendations based on the results, and can even hold online training courses and tests to enhance users’ security awareness.

It also develops an action plan for customers to ensure a fast and efficient response in the event of a potential cyberattack.

www.manpowergroup.hu

NOTE: ALL ARTICLES MARKED INSIDE VIEW ARE PAID PROMOTIONAL CONTENT FOR WHICH THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL DOES NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

We asked Csongor Juhász, managing director of Prohuman Ltd., and Tammy Nagy-Stellini, managing director of Hays Hungary, how the pandemic had impacted the recruitment and temp agency markets in Hungary, what the longer term affects might be, and their expectations for this year.

Special Report | 13

14 | 3

Special Report

www.bbj.hu

Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

Headhunting Across CEE Region Reveals Wide Range of Managerial Skills, Behavior Patterns While countries in the region exhibit many similar characteristics, each has its own cultural, societal and political facets, all of which affect managerial behavior.

This manifests in subtle, yet often telling ways.

Within this human resources mix, Hungary, while excelling in some areas, also frequently finds itself an outlier.

KESTER EDDY

In his Buda office meeting room, Klemens Wersonig has the words “Welcome Back” on the presentation board.

“I wrote that last August. The end of the summer was a positive mood, hopeful for restarting. Many people thought – I thought – that from September, it would be booming again, business as usual, which obviously did not happen,” he says, referring to the COVID pandemic.

Nonetheless, after the initial shock, “Companies realized that you cannot stand on the brakes forever, so they turned back to recruitment, more cautiously, but still, the markets started to pick up again,” Wersonig, founder and chief executive of Target Executive Search, says.

An Austrian who has built up his headhunting company group across Central and Eastern Europe over three decades, Wersonig is particularly sensitive to different national characteristics across the region, differences which, at times, showed up dramatically during the pandemic.

True, with the surprising exception of Romania, business was down more or less equally across the region by some 20-30% over the year, but in most countries state support helped reduce the cost burden, except in Hungary.

“In Austria, Poland, Czech and Slovakia, we got money from the government, but in Hungary, this help existed only on paper. We asked our accountant, and she advised against [applying], because it meant huge paperwork. It’s like an EU tender, 30 pages to fill out per person,” he told the Budapest Business Journal.

To manage costs, Wersonig negotiated a deal with his staff for part-time working, while his landlord proved sympathetic on rent. But how does executive search in the region compare to the Hungarian experience?

Quite Different

“These countries, I think are quite different from Hungary. The Czech Republic is very developed. For them, Germany is the pattern. So, they are going very much in a German direction, in a positive way, to be very correct and organized,” he says, in a short, sharp bout of praise, before focusing on the “small brother” next door.

“Slovakia has built up a very good reputation in business. You probably know they produce the most cars per capita in the world. Because they are the small brother of the Czech Republic, they want to prove themselves, to be as good as the big brother. They work a lot, work hard, are trustworthy and modest.”

Such qualities, together with Klemens Wersonig Bratislava’s adoption of the euro, and the country’s location, means Slovakia gets high marks in Wersonig’s books. But, he admits things are rather centered on In spite of Slovakia’s progress, Bratislava, which can cause issues. developments in Poland are perhaps “We have countryside projects, yes, more significant, with the potential to but these are very difficult, because of influence the entire region. “This year has the location, Young people want to be started extremely well, the best quarter around Bratislava, but factories are often ever for Target in Poland,” says Wersonig. in the country, such as in Kosice,” he “It’s also German-linked, of course, but says, speaking of Slovakia’s second city, it’s interesting because Polish people 400 km east of the capital. are increasingly becoming regional managers across Central Europe.”

Naturally, this is in part down to basic demographics: Poland’s 38 million souls outnumber the combined total of Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic (at 26 million) and some more.

But there is more to it than mere statistics. “I think they are very tough negotiators, above average, I would say.

I think the Polish personality is tougher than the rest of CE,” says Wersonig, and this makes them stand out in management roles such as purchasing and human resources.

Romanian Surprise

Felicia Beldean As in Hungary and the region as a whole, with much of the Slovak economy based on manufacturing, demand is high for engineers with management skills.

Of Hungary’s larger neighbors and economic competitors, that leaves Romania, a country twice the population, but which has suffered from mass emigration, widespread petty corruption and is more distant from its principal export markets in Western Europe.

“Romania has a big infrastructure issue. The roads are a disaster. You need to reach the factories, which is

Magyars, Watch Your Language!

easy in Hungary but is a big issue in Romania,” Wersonig reasons.

Yet, astonishingly, Romania was alone among Target’s seven-company grouping in shrugging off COVID woes and its team of just three people identified market needs to produce 40% growth in 2020.

“This came mostly from diversifying our portfolio, including international healthcare, pharmaceutical and technology players, while maintaining relationships with key partners in the automotive, financial services, retail, and other manufacturing sectors,” says Felicia Beldean, Target’s managing partner for Bulgaria and Romania Indeed, in spite of earlier emigration, Wersonig says it’s easier to find the right caliber of manager in Romania than Hungary, which is in part down to government reforms.

Máté Seres “People in IT jobs pay no income tax. They realized that if they didn’t do something, all the people would leave, so they did something,” he says. As a result, IT, along with the construction, trading, and sales segments are all “booming” Wersonig says.

Romanians also shine in language skills, a particular weakness in Hungary, where, if anything, Wersonig argues: “It’s getting worse.” (See Box).

always been good at languages, English and French. Also Slovakia is If there is one area where just have to test their English,” says Máté quite good, maybe because they are about every head hunter agrees, it Seres, managing partner with Arthur close to Austria, so there is a good amount of German interest.” is Hungarian language skills, or the Hunt in Hungary.

This has consequences for lack of them. This is a generalization, Klemens Wersonig is less sure employment. “At mid-level, for of course, there are many Magyar the situation is improving, since example a chief accountant, a exceptions but, overall, language the requirement to hold a foreign person with English can earn double skills in Hungary are well below language certificate to obtain a those in the country’s neighbors. university degree was waived during the money in Hungary, compared to someone without,” he notes.

“The situation is much better than last year’s pandemic.

“Furthermore, it shows that the 10 years ago, of course. But still, “I think language skills are actually supply is not there if there can be there is an issue regarding language decreasing now here,” he says. such a difference [in compensation].” knowledge. For every candidate, we “Romanians, for example, have

3

www.bbj.hu

Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

Special Report | 15

Recruitment Agencies yeAR estAblisHed no. of offiCes in HungARy WoRldWide

oWneRsHip (%) HungARiAn non-HungARiAn

top loCAl exeCutive Cfo mARketing diReCtoR

✓

– Hays Plc. (100)

tammy nagy-stellini Aleksandra Keller Agnieszka Kazimierczak

1054 Budapest, Szabadság tér 7.

(1) 501-2400 hungary@hays.hu

✓

✓

1996 1 500+

– GI Group (100)

györgy g. palásti Szabolcs Németh Zsolt Pető

1053 Budapest, Károlyi utca 12.

(1) 235-2600 info@grafton.hu

lAW

✓

2007 1 266

ssC/bsC

1024 Budapest, Lövőház utca 39.

(1) 411-2090 info@randstad.hu

pHARmACeutiCAl/CHemiCAl

sándor baja Lívia Tóth Ágnes Szokody

it/teleCom

10

– Randstad Holding Luxembourg S.a.r.l. (100)

sAles/tRAde/mARketing

A

2004 4 4,715

touRism

75

pRoduCtion/engineeRing

18

AddRess pHone emAil

bAnking And finAnCe

7

915 95

industRy speCiAlizAtion in 2020 guARAntee peRiod ReCRuitment time

10

otHeR

30

middle mAnAgement

25

peRCentAge of CAndidAtes plACed in 2020 (%)

top mAnAgement

otHeR

35

no. of CAndidAtes plACed in 2020 no. of employees in seARCH And Consulting on mARCH 1, 2021

plACement fRoim dAtAbAse

6,008

AdveRtising

www.randstad.hu

1,325

diReCt seARCH

RAndstAd HungARy kft.

totAl net Revenue in 2020 (Huf mln)

1

CompAny Website

bReAkdoWn by seARCH metHods in 20120 (%)

net Revenue fRom ReCRuitment in 2020 (Huf mln)

RAnk

Ranked by net revenue from recruitment in 2020 (HUF mln)

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

2-6 months 1-6 weeks

A

A

3-6 months 1-6 weeks

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

30

60

3 months 1–6 weeks

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

HAys HungARy kft. www.hays.hu 2

1,064

3,428

A

A

A

A

A A

421

442

45

15

35

5

329 24

gRAfton ReCRuitment kft. www.grafton.hu 3

Special Report

www.bbj.hu

5

kARRieR HungáRiA kft. www.karrierhungaria.hu

2,411

A

A

A

A

A

A

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

yeAR estAblisHed no. of offiCes in HungARy WoRldWide

AddRess pHone emAil

– SATRK GmbH (100)

balázs istván g. nagy Henrietta Tóth Mátyás Tulok

1134 Budapest, Váci út 22–24.

(1) 354-0933 infohungary@ trenkwalder.com

lAW

ssC/bsC

pHARmACeutiCAl/CHemiCAl

it/teleCom

sAles/tRAde/mARketing

touRism

pRoduCtion/engineeRing

bAnking And finAnCe

guARAntee peRiod ReCRuitment time otHeR

middle mAnAgement A

3 months 1-8 weeks

top loCAl exeCutive Cfo mARketing diReCtoR

344

913 27

industRy speCiAlizAtion in 2020

oWneRsHip (%) HungARiAn non-HungARiAn

4

http//hu.trenkwalder.com

peRCentAge of CAndidAtes plACed in 2020 (%)

top mAnAgement

otHeR

plACement fRoim dAtAbAse

AdveRtising

diReCt seARCH

tRenkWAldeR ReCRuitment kft.

no. of CAndidAtes plACed in 2020 no. of employees in seARCH And Consulting on mARCH 1, 2021

Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

bReAkdoWn by seARCH metHods in 20120 (%) totAl net Revenue in 2020 (Huf mln)

CompAny Website

net Revenue fRom ReCRuitment in 2020 (Huf mln)

RAnk

16 | 3

✓

2018 19 A

336

353

45

30

20

5

280 19

20

20

60

3-6 months 1-6 weeks

25

10

–

10

10

–

40

5

2007 1 1

Beáta Fürjész (50), Gabriella Ruff Berzéthyné (50) –

beáta fürjész – –

1075 Budapest, Madách Imre út 13-14.

(1) 354-2060 info@karrierhungaria.hu

325

7,801

55

15

15

15

452 24

10

40

50

3 months 1-6 weeks

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

1991 9 5,300

– Adecco Group AG (100)

Jelena zikic Ádám Varga Anna Fodor

1139 Budapest, Fiastyúk utca 4–8.

(1) 323-3500 adecco@adecco.hu

279 16

3–6 months 1–6 weeks

– Manpower France Holding SAS (100)

tamás fehér Erika Garics Rena Saadah

1133 Budapest, Váci út 76.

(1) 411-1590 manpower@ manpower.hu

AdeCCo kft. www.adecco.hu 6

mAnpoWeR munkAeRő szeRvezési kft. www.manpower.hu 7

290

4,643

60

20

20

–

271

6,356

10

20

60

10

261

19,440

50

20

20

10

235

251

45

15

35

5

6

16

78

45

25

30

375 23

5

25

70

121 12

10

40

50

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

1990 1 2,600

–

✓

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

2000 15 16

László Mátyás (89), Erika Dékány (11) –

lászló mátyás Erika Dékány László Zsilka

4025 Debrecen, Széchenyi utca 48.

(52) 446-991 info@hsa.hu

3-6 months 2-6 weeks

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

1990 9 14

Péter Berta (40), Zoltán Tóth (30), Viktor Göltl (30) –

péter berta – –

1074 Budapest, Rákóczi út 70.

(1) 787-8399 whc@whc.hu

3-6 months 1-6 weeks

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

1997 1 1

Tímea Bíró (100) –

tímea bíró – –

1138 Budapest, Váci út 135-139.

(70) 883-7514 info@focusconsulting.hu

Profólió Projekt Tanácsadó Kft. (19.78) Work Service S.A. (80.22)

HsA kft.

www.hsa.hu 8

294 A

A

1-6 weeks

WHC kft.

www.whc.hu 9

10

foCus Consulting kft. www.focusconsulting.hu

pRoHumán 2004 munkAeRő szolgáltAtó és tAnáCsAdó kft.

11 www.prohuman.hu

béla ignácz, 1144 Budapest, Csongor Juhász, Hungária körút 140-144. sándor zakor, (1) 432-1280 Jacek lorek prohuman@ Tamás Kutassy prohuman.hu –

214

31,873

A

A

A

A

256 11

A

A

A

A A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

2004 14 98

210

502

35

25

35

5

175 15

10

30

60

3–6 months 1–6 weeks

✓

✓

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

2008 1 102

– Reed Specialist Recruitment (Global) Ltd. (100)

nigel marsh – –

1051 Budapest, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 12.

(1) 883-3500 info.hungary@ reedglobal.com

197

9,263

A

A

A

A

A A

A

A

A

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

1993 7 7

Videoton Holding Zrt. (100) –

Attila molnár – –

8000 Székesfehérvár, Berényi út 72–100.

(22) 554-170 info@pannonjob.hu

196

198

50

–

30

20

89 10

15

35

50

3 months 2-3 weeks

✓

–

–

✓

✓

✓

–

–

2012 1 1

Corporate (100) –

balázs bondici, tamás püski – –

1075 Budapest, Madách Imre út 13–14.

(70) 775-2575 hello@iseeq.hu

A

A A

A

3-6 months 2-6 weeks

–

1993 14 14

Individuals (100) –

katalin bor, Róbert göbl, zsuzsanna szabó – –

1077 Budapest, Wesselényi utca 11.

(1) 877-0900 info@humancentrum.hu

1992 2 2

László Hadi, Botond Csordás, Attila Pál, Attila Dobár (100) –

éva fehér György Thury –

1094 Budapest, Angyal utca 24.

(1) 239-9922 job@job.hu

Reed mAgyARoRszág kft. www.reedglobal.com 12

13

pAnnonJob Humán szolgáltAtó és tAnáCsAdó kft.

3-6 months A

www.pannonjob.hu

14

iseeQ kft.

www.iseeq.hu

Humán CentRum kft.

15 www.humancentrum.hu

Job személyzeti 16 tAnáCsAdó kft. www.job.hu

182

167

6,914

1,861

A

50

A

20

A

25

5

108 14

A

7

A

35

58

3–6 months 2–5 weeks

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

–

✓

✓

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

3

www.bbj.hu

oWneRsHip (%) HungARiAn non-HungARiAn

top loCAl exeCutive Cfo mARketing diReCtoR

Eszter Tokár péter tokár, (47), Hajnalka Péter Tokár (47), bánovics other (6) Hajnalka Bánovics – Zsanett Hajsz

–

2013 1 1

(100) –

orsolya Cseh, veronika varga – –

1027 Budapest, Horvát utca 14-24. building A (20) 224-0469 info@ visionrecruitment.hu

30

10

2012 1 1

Gabriella Ruff Berzéthyné (50), Beáta Fürjész (50) –

gabriella Ruff berzéthyné – –

1075 Budapest, Madách Imre út 13–14.

(1) 354-2060 –

lAW –

2012 1 1

ssC/bsC

1023 Budapest, Árpád fejedelem útja 31.

(1) 766-5626 getwork@getwork.hu

pHARmACeutiCAl/CHemiCAl

ákos Jáhny Lázár Krisztina –

it/teleCom

László Küzmös (100) –

sAles/tRAde/mARketing

2004 10 10

touRism

85

pRoduCtion/engineeRing

11

AddRess pHone emAil

bAnking And finAnCe

4

Special Report | 17

yeAR estAblisHed no. of offiCes in HungARy WoRldWide

industRy speCiAlizAtion in 2020 guARAntee peRiod ReCRuitment time

–

otHeR

30

middle mAnAgement

16

peRCentAge of CAndidAtes plACed in 2020 (%)

top mAnAgement

otHeR

54

no. of CAndidAtes plACed in 2020 no. of employees in seARCH And Consulting on mARCH 1, 2021

plACement fRoim dAtAbAse

4,324

AdveRtising

159

diReCt seARCH

totAl net Revenue in 2020 (Huf mln)

CompAny Website

bReAkdoWn by seARCH metHods in 20120 (%)

net Revenue fRom ReCRuitment in 2020 (Huf mln)

RAnk

Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

get WoRk tRend kft. www.getwork.hu

17

fp invest tRAde kft.

18 www.tesk.hu

150

150

20

20

50

272 5

10

100 10

5

69 9

10

25

1-12 months 1-4 weeks

65

3-6 months 1-5 weeks

45

3 months 1–4 weeks

20

20

–

10

10

–

5

65

–

15

10

–

5

1076 Budapest, Garay tér 20/B (1) 445-1209, (30) 950-8818 info@tesk.hu

vision ReCRuitment kft. www.visionrecruitment.hu 19

121

kARRieR Rent kft.

20 –

AARenson

21 Consulting kft. www.aarenson.hu

121

85

–

10

98

15

40

20

10

–

5

30

5

30

10

20

70

3-6 months 2-6 weeks

65 10

30

40

30

3-9 months 1-6 weeks

✓

✓

–

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

2005 1 1

Individuals (100) –

péter bogdanovits – –

1143 Budapest, Gizella út 42-44.

(1) 225-1079 office@aarenson.hu

125 18

5

35

60

3 months 2-8 weeks

5

45

5

15

20

2

6

2

2004 16 18

Grosvenor Kft. (100) –

géza Homonnay, péter laczi Andrea Peka Makkosné Marianna Baksy

1114 Budapest, Bartók Béla út 15/D (1) 381-1048 budapest@ pannonwork.hu

25

45

30

–

✓

–

–

–

✓

–

–

Individuals (100) –

péter sitte – –

1111 Budapest, Lágymányosi utca 12.

(20) 401-4766 info@carbyne.hu

A

A

A

✓

✓

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

2009 2 36

– CPL Resources Ireland Holdings Limited (100)

simone olivo Ildikó Homoki –

1062 Budapest, Teréz körút 55.

(1) 501-5460 budapest@cpljobs.hu

2001 12 15

(100) –

gábor Csizmadia, péter vida László Pintér Mátyás Stankovics

1013 Budapest, Pauler utca 18.

(20) 260-7233 info@viapan.hu

– Kelly Services Management Sarl (100)

péter kóthay József Verebélyi –

1134 Budapest, Váci út 35.

(1) 301-7800 info@kellyservices.hu

120

124

20

35

40

5

95

95

70

10

10

10

92

11,371

50

25

20

5

90

90

40

–

50

10

88

A

A

A

A

A

A A

5

30

15

A

pAnnon-WoRk zRt. www.pannonwork.hu

22

23

CARbyne kft.

24

Cpl Jobs kft.

www.carbyne.hu

www.cpl.com/hu

A

4

3-6 months A

3-6 months A

2017 A A

viApAn dologidő kft. www.viapan.hu 25

87

2,474

20

30

45

5

187 7

84

3,050

–

35

60

5

65 23

4

143 4

A

65

3-6 months 4-6 weeks

3

76

2

4

4

5

4

2

81

3 months 6-8 weeks

✓

✓

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

3 months 1-4 weeks

A

kelly seRviCes HungARy kft.

www.kellyservices.hu 26

27

NR

pbs inteRnAtionAl kft. www.pbs-job.hu

AHC inteRnAtionAl kft. www.ahc-budapest.hu

A = would not disclose, NR = not ranked, NA = not appliacable

38

A

38

A

70

60

20

15

10

20

–

5

A

3

A

A

A

A

A

3-6 months 1-3 weeks

2004 5 A

–

A

✓

A

✓

A

✓

A

–

A

✓

A

✓

A

2002 1 1

Renáta Restás (100) –

Renáta Restás – –

1036 Budapest, Nagyszombat utca 4.

(1) 786-5666 info@pbs-job.hu

–

1992 1 1

Lászlóné Dorozsmai (25), Réka DorozsmaiGallasz (50) Udo M. Chisteé (25)

Réka dorozsmaigallasz – –

1065 Budapest, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 53.

(1) 316-2800 ahc.budapest@ ahc-international.hu

This list was compiled from responses to questionnaires received by April 21, 2021 and publicly available data. To the best of the Budapest Business Journal’s knowledge, the information is accurate as of press time.

The list is based on companies' voluntary data submissions. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and thoroughness, omissions and typographical errors may occur. Additions or corrections to the list should be sent on letterhead to the research department, Budapest Business Journal, 1075 Budapest, Madách Imre út 13–14., or faxed to (1) 398-0345. The research department can be contacted at research@bbj.hu

18 | 3

Special Report

www.bbj.hu

Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

News///in brief Human Resources

ÁSZ: Universities Better Adapted to Labor Market Needs Higher education in Hungary has become better able to adapt to the demands of the labor market since a series of changes launched in 2012, the State Audit office (ÁSZ) said in an analysis published on April 6, according to azuzlet.hu (The Business). ÁSZ said the number of tertiary education graduates with engineering degrees had increased one-third since 2012, while the number with degrees in agricultural science rose by one-quarter and the number of IT graduates increased 12%. At the same time, the number and proportion of graduates in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and economics declined. ÁSZ said the higher education system had made “significant advances” toward achieving goals in 2014-2019 as concentration in vocational training improved; the number of students in dual education programs, combining lectures with practical training, increased; and the proportion of foreign students grew.

At the same time, ÁSZ pointed out that the share of young people with degrees has declined, the dropout rate had stagnated and gauges of competencies upon admission and graduation had failed to materialize.

Gov’t Helping Public Employees Transition to Private Sector The government is once again announcing the “From Public Employment to Competition” program, which has helped more than 17,000 public employees find their way into the primary labor market in recent years, said Secretary of State for Employment Policy Sándor Bodó, of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology, according to novekedes.hu (Growth). Bodó said that those entering the program starting in mid-April can receive a monthly allowance of HUF 45,000. As a consequence, based on the minimum wage, they can take home almost a total HUF 160,000 during the period of their public employment contract.

Full employment can be achieved in a long-term sustainable way if more taxpaying jobs are created, Bodó added.

Matolcsy Outlines Ways to Foster Talent National Bank of Hungary (MNB) governor György Matolcsy on April 12 outlined ways Hungary could better foster talent in an op-ed piece published on economics website novekedes.hu (Growth), which is close to the MNB. Matolcsy acknowledged that capital has mobilized technology, knowledge and talent for the past 500 years, but said “the sequence of the factors of success have been turned around; [...] now talent mobilizes the other three.” He said early detection of talent, “in the family circle, then later in the community,” is key to fostering it. “Every talent is worth assessing, because the skills that bring success in future will be different from the ones that do so today,” he added.

Share of Telecommuters Tripled Last Year The ratio of telecommuters in Hungary reached 8.6% last year, against the backdrop of the pandemic, triple the 2.9% average for the previous 10 years, according to data compiled by the Central Statistical Office (KSH). The number of Hungarians telecommuting all or some of the time tripled in March

2020 from around 100,000 in February 2020 as pandemic restrictions came into force. That number peaked at close to 760,000, or 17% of all those employed, in May. The number of telecommuters tapered off in the summer, but started to rise again with the second wave of the pandemic, reaching 482,000 in February 2021. About 4.3% of employed people telecommuted on a regular basis this February, while 6.6% did so occasionally.

The share of telecommuters in the capital reached 21.3% last year, while the ratio in the underdeveloped Northern Great Plain region stood at 4.8%.

Tourism Could see Labor Shortage Upon Recovery According to a recent flash report, survival is the goal for now, but in the future, the hospitality and hotel industry could suffer from a chronic labor shortage, as the sector has lost much of its popularity among young people as career choices, writes leading business daily Világgazdaság (Global Economy).

According to the trends report of the Association of Hungarian Hotels and Restaurants at the end of March, the number of guest nights fell by almost 40% in 2020 compared to the previous year. In November, the fall was even more dramatic, at almost 90% compared to a year earlier. As many were forced to find work elsewhere, the big question is how many will return to the sector.

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Special Report | 19

Temp Agencies yeAR esTAblished no. of offiCes in hungARy WoRldWide inCluding offiCes in hungARy

oWneRship (%) hungARiAn non-hungARiAn

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

2004 14 98

Profólió Projekt Tanácsadó Kft. (19.78) Work Service S.A. (80.22)

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

1990 9 14

Péter Berta (40), Zoltán Tóth (30), Viktor Göltl (30) –

péter berta – –

1074 Budapest, Rákóczi út 70.

(1) 787-8399 whc@whc.hu

✓

2018 1 300

– SATRK GmbH (100)

balázs g. nagy Henrietta Tóth –

1134 Budapest, Váci út 22–24.

(1) 354-0933 infohungary@ trenkwalder.com

ConsTRuCTion indusTRy

AgRiCulTuRe

sAles/TRAde

heAlThCARe/ phARmACeuTiCAl

TouRism

pRoduCTion

iT/TelCo

bReAkdoWn of Temps supplied by seCToRs in 2020 offiCe/finAnCe

WhiTe-CollAR

blue-CollAR

peRmAnenT

bReAkbReAkdoWn of doWn of plACeType of menT in WoRk in 2020 (%) 2020 (%)

TempoRARy

ToTAl neT Revenue in 2020 (huf mln)

ToTAl numbeR of TempoRARy WoRkfoRCe in 2020 no. of billed houRs in 2020

neT Revenue fRom TempoRARy plACeRmenT in 2020 (huf mln)

CompAny WebsiTe

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RAnk

Ranked by average statistical headcount in 2020

pRohumán 2004 munkAeRő szolgálTATó és TAnáCsAdó kfT. 1

www.prohuman.hu

6,138 241

30,735

18,352 12,606,001

31,873

–

2,885 148

18,050

8,011 5,855,700

19,440

70

30

90

10

2,119 8

12,174

3,000 3,769,662

12,181

90

10

99

1

100 84.80 15.20 A

Top loCAl exeCuTive Cfo mARkeTing diReCToR

AddRess phone emAil

béla ignácz, Csongor Juhász, sándor zakor, Jacek lorek Tamás Kutassy –

1144 Budapest, Hungária körút 140-144.

(1) 432-1280 prohuman@prohuman.hu

WhC kfT.

www.whc.hu 2

✓

TRenkWAldeR hR soluTion kfT. 3

http://hu.trenkwalder.com

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

ConsTRuCTion indusTRy

8000 Székesfehérvár, Berényi út 72–100.

(22) 554-170 info@pannonjob.hu

AgRiCulTuRe

Attila molnár – –

sAles/TRAde

A

Videoton Holding Zrt. (100) –

heAlThCARe/ phARmACeuTiCAl

1114 Budapest, Bartók Béla út 15/D (1) 381-1048 budapest@pannonwork.hu

TouRism

géza homonnay, péter laczi Andrea Peka Makkosné Marianna Baksy

pRoduCTion

Grosvenor Kft. (100) –

iT/TelCo

2004 16 18

offiCe/finAnCe

AddRess phone emAil

WhiTe-CollAR

Top loCAl exeCuTive Cfo mARkeTing diReCToR

blue-CollAR

oWneRship (%) hungARiAn non-hungARiAn

peRmAnenT

bReAkdoWn of Temps supplied by seCToRs in 2020

yeAR esTAblished no. of offiCes in hungARy WoRldWide inCluding offiCes in hungARy

bReAkbReAkdoWn of doWn of plACeType of menT in WoRk in 2020 (%) 2020 (%)

TempoRARy

11,082

www.bbj.hu

Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

ToTAl neT Revenue in 2020 (huf mln)

1,912 170

ToTAl numbeR of TempoRARy WoRkfoRCe in 2020 no. of billed houRs in 2020

CompAny WebsiTe

neT Revenue fRom TempoRARy plACeRmenT in 2020 (huf mln)

Special Report AveRAge sTATisTiCAl heAdCounT in 2020 no. of full-Time employees on JAn. 1, 2021

RAnk

20 | 3

11,371

35

65

75

25

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

A A

9,263

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

7,189

1,367 2,856,912

7,801

90

10

79

21

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

1991 9 5,500

– Adecco Group AG (100)

Jelena zikic Ádám Varga Anna Fodor

1139 Budapest, Fiastyúk utca 4–8.

(1) 323-3500 adecco@adecco.hu

6,010

4,306 2,462,190

6,356

20

80

80

20

7

4

79

–

–

3

6

1

2000 15 16

László Mátyás (89), Erika Dékány (11) –

lászló mátyás Erika Dékány László Zsilka

4025 Debrecen, Széchenyi utca 48.

(52) 446-991 info@hsa.hu

6,160

A A

7,001

8

92

95

5

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

1998 6 6

Volano Kft. (100) –

Csaba ottó Orsolya Horvai Módné –

8272 Óbudavár, Fő utca 31.

(20) 929-2430 info@manatwork.hu

6,848

3,934 1,928,540

6,914

75

25

95

5

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

2003 8 8

C.S.R Vagyonkezelő Kft. (100) –

Róbert Csákvári László Módos Mátyás Pintér

1134 Budapest, Váci út 49.

(1) 354-3434 titkarsag@work-force.hu

6,914

27

73

80

20

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

–

1993 15 15

Individuals (100) –

katalin bor, Róbert göbl, zsuzsanna szabó – –

1077 Budapest, Wesselényi utca 11.

(1) 877-0900 info@humancentrum.hu

5,520

90

10

99

1

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

2018 1 300

– SATRK GmbH (100)

balázs g. nagy Henrietta Tóth –

1134 Budapest, Váci út 22–24.

(1) 354-0933 infohungary@ trenkwalder.com

pAnnon-WoRk zRT. www.pannonwork.hu

4

pAnnonJob humán szolgálTATó és TAnáCsAdó kfT.

5

1,565 A

8,660

1,642 A

www.pannonjob.hu

1993 7

AdeCCo kfT. www.adecco.hu 6

1,495 72

hsA kfT.

www.hsa.hu 1,234

7

A

mAn AT WoRk humánszolgálTATó és személyzeTi TAnáCsAdó kfT. www.manatwork.hu

1,226

8

A

WoRk foRCe személyzeTi TAnáCsAdó és szolgálTATó kfT. www.work-force.hu 9

1,215 64

humán CenTRum kfT. 10

1,164 75

6,738

A A

1,145 7

5,473

1,821 2,288,185

www.humancentrum.hu

TRenkWAldeR leAsing kfT. http://hu.trenkwalder.com 11

BÁRKIT KERES, MEGTALÁLJUK! • • • • • •

munkaerő-kölcsönzés munkaerő-közvetítés határon túliak foglalkoztatása rehabilitációs foglalkoztatás diákmunka outsourcing

+ 36 (1) 354 3434 ertekesites@work-force.hu Kérjen ajánlatot most és 24 órán belül felvesszük Önnel a kapcsolatot.

Work Force – Munka. Erő.

workforce.hu

Workforce-BBJ-hirdetes-252x77-V4.indd 2

2021. 04. 16. 16:31

3

www.bbj.hu

neT Revenue fRom TempoRARy plACeRmenT in 2020 (huf mln)

ToTAl numbeR of TempoRARy WoRkfoRCe in 2020 no. of billed houRs in 2020

ToTAl neT Revenue in 2020 (huf mln)

TempoRARy

peRmAnenT

blue-CollAR

WhiTe-CollAR

offiCe/finAnCe

pRoduCTion

TouRism

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sAles/TRAde

AgRiCulTuRe

ConsTRuCTion indusTRy

yeAR esTAblished no. of offiCes in hungARy WoRldWide inCluding offiCes in hungARy

oWneRship (%) hungARiAn non-hungARiAn

iT/TelCo

CompAny WebsiTe

bReAkbReAkdoWn of doWn of plACeType of menT in WoRk in 2020 (%) 2020 (%)

Special Report | 21

AveRAge sTATisTiCAl heAdCounT in 2020 no. of full-Time employees on JAn. 1, 2021

RAnk

Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

982 40

4,166

3,208 1,472,321

4,324

3

97

95

5

5

–

80

–

10

5

–

–

2004 10 10

László Küzmös (100) –

ákos Jáhny Lázár Krisztina –

1023 Budapest, Árpád fejedelem útja 31.

(1) 766-5626 getwork@getwork.hu

4,683

722 857,015

6,008

31

69

16

84

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

2004 4 4,715

– Randstad Holding Luxembourg S.a.r.l.

(100)

sándor baja Lívia Tóth Ágnes Szokody

1024 Budapest, Lövőház utca 39.

(1) 411-2090 info@randstad.hu

4,252

A

A

85

15

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

2001 18 19

Individuals (100) –

zoltán márkus Henrietta Gyurkóczi Zsuzsanna Ecsedi

1118 Budapest, Előpatak utca 78.

(1) 248-2010 info@humaniahrsgroup.hu

1990 1 2,600

– Manpower France Holding SAS (100)

Tamás fehér Erika Garics Rena Saadah

1133 Budapest, Váci út 76.

(1) 411-1590 manpower@manpower.hu

2004 5

– Kelly Services Management Sarl (100)

péter kóthay József Verebélyi –

1134 Budapest, Váci út 35.

(1) 301-7800 info@kellyservices.hu

MELÓ-DIÁK Holding Zrt. (100) –

péter megyeri Gyula Serfőző Zoltán Kott

1095 Budapest, Tinódi utca 9-11.

(Customer service) (1) 456-0700 info@starjobs.hu

(100) –

gábor Csizmadia, péter vida László Pintér Mátyás Stankovics

1013 Budapest, Pauler utca 18.

(20) 569-7006 info@viapan.hu

László Hadi, Botond Csordás, Attila Pál, Attila Dobár (100) –

éva fehér György Thury –

1094 Budapest, Angyal utca 24.

(1) 239-9922 job@job.hu

Individuals (100) –

gábor varga – –

1138 Budapest, Madarász Viktor utca 47–49.

(1) 555-1585 esense@esense.hu

Individuals (100) –

zoltán pataki – Adél Kiss

2724 Újlengyel, Nyári Pál utca 65.

(1) 225-7313 eucsoport@eucsoport.hu

– Hays Plc. (100)

Tammy nagy-stellini Aleksandra Keller Agnieszka Kazimierczak

1054 Budapest, Szabadság tér 7.

(1) 501-2400 hungary@hays.hu

Pannon-Work Zrt. (51), Tibor Takács (49) –

Tibor Takács, géza homonnay – –

8000 Székesfehérvár, Szörényi utca 89.

(22) 509-900 info@humannavigator.hu

– Reed Specialist Recruitment (Global) Ltd. (100)

nigel marsh – –

1051 Budapest, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 12.

(1) 883-3500 info.hungary@ reedglobal.com

bReAkdoWn of Temps supplied by seCToRs in 2020

Top loCAl exeCuTive Cfo mARkeTing diReCToR

AddRess phone emAil

geT WoRk TRend kfT. www.getwork.hu

12

13

RAndsTAd hungARy kfT. www.randstad.hu

668 122

14

humániA hRs gRoup zRT.

639

www.humaniahrsgroup.hu

A

3,916

1,920 A

mAnpoWeR munkAeRő szeRvezési kfT. www.manpower.hu 15

475 32

3,601

1,006 593,791

4,643

60

40

60

40

16 20 60

–

2

2

–

–

455 33

2,811

1,536 803,447

3,050

96

4

98

2

✓

–

✓

–

–

–

438 11

2,439

878 797,817

2,505

7

93

40

60

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

–

–

2,474

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

kelly seRviCes hungARy kfT.

www.kellyservices.hu 16

✓

✓

A

sTARJobs mAgyARoRszág humánszolgálTATó kfT. www.starjobs.hu 17

2001 5 7

viApAn dologidő kfT. www.viapan.hu

428

18

A

Job személyzeTi

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NR szolgálTATó zRT. www.esense.hu

NR

eu-Jobs kfT. www.eujobs.hu

2,432

1,508 A

2001

179 23

1,675

284 301,425

1,861

52

48

–

100

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

✓

–

–

A A

A

A A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A A

A

A A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A A

2,364(1)

A A

3,428

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A A

A

A A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

292

A A

A A

1992 2 2 2007 A A

2005 A A

hAys hungARy kfT. www.hays.hu NR

NR

humán nAvigáToR kfT. www.humannavigator.hu

2007 1 266

2001 A A

Reed mAgyARoRszág kfT. www.reedglobal.com NR

A A

502

20

80

noTes: (1) The net revenue from temporary placement includes data of Hays Professional Services Kft.

25

75

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

✓

–

–

2008 1 102

4

www.bbj.hu

Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

Socialite Inside Hungarian Bestseller Edith Eger’s ‘The Gift’ The other night, my partner and I were feeling rather gloomy. This isn’t so unusual for her – she’s Hungarian, after all – but somewhat rare for me, a Brit who prides himself on his optimism.

DAVID HOLZER

I attempted to shut out pandemic paranoia by watching a Marvel superhero series on Netflix. That is, until I started to wonder if our current fascination with powerful mutants, often engineered by shadowy government bodies, isn’t a byproduct of virus fear.

My partner buried herself in her new book, “The Gift” by psychologist Edith Eger.

Edith Eger was born in 1927 to Hungarian Jewish parents in the town of Edith Eger. Photo courtesy of dreditheger.com Košice, now in Slovakia but Hungarian up until the end of World War I (when it was part of Czechoslovakia), and again between 1938 and 1945, when it was clinic in La Jolla, California and became known as Kassa. a member of the faculty at the University “Every moment in Auschwitz of An outstanding gymnast, Eger was California, San Diego. was hell on earth. It was a member of the Hungarian Olympic Free Your Mind team in gymnastics until she was also my best classroom.

Today, Eger’s work as a psychologist removed in 1942, as a result of the Subjected to loss, torture, is all about helping her clients free harsh anti-Jewish laws introduced by the Hungarian government. She was starvation, and the constant themselves from their own thoughts and make their own choices. also a fine ballet dancer. threat of death, I discovered Realizing that she had to confront her In May 1944, Eger was deported to horrific past, Eger returned to Auschwitz Auschwitz with her parents and sister the tools for survival in 1990. She published her experiences Magda. Along with her mother, she was and freedom that I continue in the bestselling “The Choice” (2017), selected for the gas chamber by the her first book. Of this, Oprah Winfrey infamous Josef Mengele. Her mother died, to use every day in my said “I’ll be forever changed by her story.” but in her memoirs, Eger describes how clinical psychology practice 2020’s “The Gift” is Eger’s second book.

Mengele made her dance for him in her It has received glowing reviews and been barracks that same evening and rewarded as well as my life.” included in Forbes’ “11 Growth-Oriented her with a loaf of bread which she shared.

Books To Read In 2021.”

According to her memoirs, Eger ended “The Gift” builds on Eger’s realization up in Gunskirchen concentration camp that “Every moment in Auschwitz was hell (near Lambach, Austria), where she ate had fought with the partisans during on earth. It was also my best classroom. grass to survive. When the U.S. military the war. In 1949, after being threatened Subjected to loss, torture, starvation, and liberated the camp in May 1945, a by communists, they fled to the United the constant threat of death, I discovered soldier spotted Eger’s hand move after States with their daughter. the tools for survival and freedom that I she’d been left for dead in a pile of Suffering from intense survivor guilt continue to use every day in my clinical bodies and saved her life. She weighed and trauma, Eger attempted to bury her psychology practice as well as my life.”

32 kilos, had a broken back, typhoid past. After becoming friends with the At the heart of “The Gift” is the fever, pneumonia and pleurisy.

Jewish Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, Together with her sister Magda, Eger philosopher, author and fellow Holocaust observation that we choose to be victims and the worst prisons are the ones we recovered in American field hospitals. survivor Viktor Frankl, Eger went into Returning to Kassa, now Košice again, therapy and received her PhD in Clinical build for ourselves.

The book tells the stories of people Eger they found their other sister Clara.

Psychology and her license to practice has treated who have suffered appalling Edith married Béla Eger, a Jew who as a psychologist. She opened a therapy

injuries and been well and truly kicked in the teeth by life. Eger describes it as “a practical guide to help us identify our mental prisons and develop the tools we need to become free.”

Chief among these tools is choice. “We can always choose how we respond,” Eger says, “and I seek to highlight and harness my patients’ power to choose, to effect positive change in their lives.”

Sharing Recipes

After each story, Eger offers suggestions to put her principles into practice.

These are like those in 99% of self-help books, boring and impractical. There’s also a subplot, if you can call it that, involving Eger and her daughter sharing Hungarian recipes which is more fun. It’s also, I’m sure, one of the reasons “The Gift” has become a Hungarian bestseller.

Half an hour or so after she began reading “The Gift”, my partner began to nod her head and smile. I asked her what the book was like.

She told me some of the stories Eger describes in the book, like that of the woman who was shot and left for dead by a deranged member of her husband’s family. The woman suffered terribly but Eger offered her a way to resist becoming a victim.

After hearing this story, and a couple more, I realized I was becoming more cheerful. The privations my partner and I were suffering because of the pandemic paled into insignificance compared to these grim stories.

I encouraged my partner to read more extracts. Soon we were feeling positively chirpy and had completely forgotten our own woes.

Now, I don’t know if this was what Eger intended. Frankly, I don’t care, I’d rather read “The Gift”, or have it read to me, than watch hours of Netflix cartoon violence and smartass wisecracks.

I’m with Eger when she writes, “We flourish when we harness ‘learned optimism’ – the strength, resiliency, and ability to create the meaning and direction of our lives.”

“The Gift” (224 pages, published

by Rider) can be bought in hardback or paperback from Amazon, Penguin and Waterstones, among others, and is also available as an audiobook from Simon & Schuster Audio, read by Tovah Feldshuh.

www.bbj.hu

Budapest Business Journal | April 23 – May 6, 2021

Moreish Mór Passing the Acid Test A recent visit to two winemakers in Mór (90 km southwest of Budapest) left me begging for more of this tiny Hungarian wine region, pardon the rather obvious pun, but thankfully it didn’t leave me gagging from the aggressive acidity for which it had perhaps become infamous.

ROBERT SMYTH

“I realized I had to make my wines friendlier after I tasted around a lot, trying many different wines from various [Hungarian] regions,” Mór winemaker Csaba Miklós told the Budapest Business Journal.

This has meant paying more attention in the vineyards to catch the time when grapes reach optimal ripeness and sometimes stopping the fermentation short of dry, keeping a few grams of residual sugar to counterbalance the razor-sharp acidity.

Nemférünk a bőröndbe Chardonnay 2019 has 8 grams of residual sugar per liter to soften the 6.8 grams per liter of acidity. One-third of the wine underwent what is known as malolactic fermentation, which converts the harsher malic acid into a creamy lactic acid, while one-third was vinified in 400-liter used barrels.

Costing HUF 2,750 from Bortársaság, this is well-made, ripe and round with peach, melon and ripe red apple notes, but it’s a tad too soft and overly refined for my admittedly acid-loving palate, somewhat lacking the tension and edginess I crave. However, I believe Miklóscsabi (as Miklós is more usually known, and it is also the name for his winery) when he says this is a real crowd pleaser and is very popular with guests.

The name of this wine translates as “We can’t fit it into the suitcase” and is a play on the Hungarian saying that a misbehaving child can’t fit into his or her own skin. The name was suggested by one of Miklóscsabi’s winemaking idols, Eger’s György Lőrincz.

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Its thin skins can split after a few days of rain in the run up to harvest, making the wine watery, explains Krisztina Csetvei-Machán, who makes wine for her family cellar, Csetvei Pince.

The cellar has 3.5 hectares in Mór and 1 hectare in Somló (from which she makes a characteristic Juhfark), and is in the process of converting to being certified organic. Incidentally, Csetvei-Machán estimates that Mór has a total of just 440 hectares under vine.

She makes an impressive and full-bodied Ezerjó using oak, EH Ezerjó Hordó, the 2019 of which oozes eastern spices and creamy fruit, although she has found an innovative yet ancient method of vinification that is regaining in popularity that delightfully captures the grape’s purity.

“I realized I had to make my wines friendlier after I tasted around a lot, trying many different wines from various [Hungarian] regions.”

Intrigued by a several thousandyear-old method of vinification, she travelled to Georgia, the spiritual home of amphora winemaking, where the vessels are called kvevri. On her Csaba Miklós at the bar in his Miklóscsabi Winnery in Mór. return, she adapted their use according to local considerations, such as pressing the grapes and not fermenting these until Christmas, then racked on the skins as is typical in amphora, Miklóscsabi makes the wines followed by relatively short ageing, not together with his assistant winemaker, between Christmas and New Year, and aged in the barrels until June. wanting a heavy wine. his cousin, Zsolt Eisenberger, who Miklóscsabi himself didn’t want to She sourced amphora locally from also has his own winery. Having keep it too long in oak but I think the Attila Légli, brother of Balatonboglár studied wine marketing in California, fabulous fruit and floral characteristics winemakers Ottó and Géza Légli.

Miklóscsabi has many creative of this quite full-bodied wine aren’t Csetvei-Machán ages Ezerjó for a labels with catchy names, such as maximum of four months in amphora, GimmeMór, Demi Mór, Depes Mór and blocked out by the oak at all. The vibrant citrusy and floral aromas, before the oxidation kicks in, and the he’s even got the Fab Four in on one followed by a juicy, concentrated yet vessel serves to nicely take the sharp of his labels with John, Paul, Csabi, balanced palate (with 13% alcohol that edge off the wine, enabling oxygen Ringo Star (Yes, Star with one “r”), is totally integrated) is complemented, to interact with it without adding any George Kékfrankos. and not disturbed by the oak, while the notes from the vessel, unlike when Much more my kind of wine angular acidity renders the wine both ageing in oak. compared to the aforementioned intense and distinctive.

The result is a really elegant, Chardonnay is the bone-dry Ezredes It very much speaks both of the grape medium-bodied expression of Ezerjó 2019 (HUF 3,600 from mikloscsabi. variety and its place of growth, and is with a deep lemon color, aromas com), which features the vintner’s great example of what the underrated and flavors of peach, lemon, honey, father, Pál Miklós, on the label. The Ezerjó is capable of. lemon zest and pear, with everything wine made according to his father’s Ezerjó is the flagship grape of Mór, a in beautiful balance. It is also very taste (apparently rather similar to predominantly white wine region that is good value at HUF 4,000 from mine), with high acidity (7.2 grams per nestled between the Vertes and Bakony csetveipince.hu. liter) and real concentration. hills, which benefits from a breeze that Királyleányka is another somewhat Deep Roots keeps air circulating among the vines overlooked indigenous variety, and It comes from 44-year-old Ezerjó vines and helps prevent fungal diseases doing Csetvei-Machán considers it an from the Csóka vineyard, from whence their worst. important grape for Mór. Her 2020 is the grapes were harvested in the The region’s epicenter is the town of delightfully fruity (peach, tangerine) middle of October. One might Mór, and is where many of the region’s and floral (white flowers), light-bodied have expected the acid level to have cellars (including the two featured in but with good length. It costs HUF dropped off by then, but the longthis article) are located. It has mainly 2,500 from the cellar. This is her only established vines have their roots limestone-clay soils. wine that is vinified by cultured yeast, going down deep into the limestonein order to preserve the freshness.

Tricky Twists clay soil and retain acidity.

The rest are all left to their own The grape’s name literally means This wine was spontaneously devices to undergo spontaneous “A thousand good things” but it has fermented in used 400-liter Hungarian fermentation from the yeast inherent one or two tricky twists about it, too.

Kádár barrels and kept on the lees in on the grapes and in the cellar.

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