“American medical technology company Becton Dickinson is expanding its factory in Tatabanya with an investment of 34 billion forints, to which the Government is providing 2.7 billion forints in non-refundable subsidies”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced at a press conference in Budapest.
Mr. Szijjártó said that the company would also be creating 219 new, high added value jobs and stressed that economic co-operation between the United States and Hungary is “without doubt” a success story; the United States is the second most important investor in Hungary thanks to which it has also become the country’s number one export market outside the European Union.
“The investment project shows that American capital has continued confidence in Hungary”, he declared. “The production of medical supplies in Hungary grew by 19 percent year on year during the first nine months of 2016, reaching 203 billion forints (EUR 656M), in which Tatabánya also played an important role”, the Foreign Minister told reporters. He also mentioned that more than 12.000 people currently work in the medical supplies manufacturing sector, an increase of 8% compared to last year.
“Everybody is a winner with the reduction of corporation tax to a flat rate of 9%, including large companies as well as small-and medium-sized enterprises, which can gain strength if they succeed in becoming part of the supply chain of a large international company producing in Hungary”, he declared.
Plant Director of Becton Dickinson Hungary Ltd. Csaba Vecsernyés told reporters that the investment will result in the capacity of the unit that manufactures prefilled syringes and plastic security devices being increased with new production lines. In reply to a question from Hungarian news agency MTI, he said the realisation of the project was expected to last 3 years, planning is in process and the construction work itself would begin within 8-10 months.
Mr. Vecsernyés said that the company has spent 250 million U.S. dollars on starting-up its manufacturing and expanding production since 2007, during which time new jobs have continuously been created, with the company currently employing 700 people in Tatabánya.
He recalled that a new business branch, Biosciences, was established in Tatabánya last year, in addition to which the foundation stone of a production hall for manufacturing research reagents used in the pharmaceuticals industry was also laid down.
Major of Tatabánya Csaba Schmidt said that Becton Dickinson is one of the city’s most dependable partners and the company is continuously expanding, hiring 30-40 new employees every quarter. The fact that Becton Dickinson has set up the first bioscience section of its kind in the world in Tatabánya, Hungary, rather than in the United States, shows the extent of the company’s confidence, he highlighted.
Member of Parliament János Bencsik emphasised that after the millennium Tatabanya decided to go in the direction of producing automotive industry parts, heavy machinery and medical supplied. That was when Becton Dickinson appeared in Hungary and mutual trust was established between the company and Tatabanya.
According to official company data, Becton Dickinson Hungary Ltd. achieved 17.6 billion forints (EUR 56 million) in sales revenues in the financial year ending 30 September 2015, compared to 11.8 billion forints in the previous year. During the same period, the company posted after tax profits of 2.19 billion forints compared to 2.05 billion in 2014.
Becton Dickinson is a global medical technology company that develops, produced and distributed medical supplies, diagnostic instrument systems and reagents. The company, which was established in 1897 and has its headquarters in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, employs some 45 thousand people in 50 countries worldwide.