“Seventy-one large Hungarian corporations are launching 207 billion forints (EUR 576.8 million) in investment within the framework of the Competitiveness-Increasing Program, in the interests of maintaining their workforce and increasing their staff numbers”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on Monday in Székesfehérvár, where he officially presented the first funding certificate issued within the framework of the Program to Howmet-Köfém Limited.
At the foundation stone laying ceremony of the production hall, which is being constructed with the help of the funding, Mr. Szijjártó spoke about the fact that during the global pandemic the government is “not financing unemployment, but the fight against unemployment”, and many enterprises have forged alliances with the government in this battle. As he explained, the European Commission permitted member states to pay out a maximum of 800 thousand euros in funding to, and 904 Hungarian enterprises have received 425 billion forints within the framework of the funding program. “In addition, following length negotiations, we have succeeded in assuring that we are able to provide more than 800 thousand euros in funding to enterprises with no upper limit, thanks to which they are protecting 61,600 workplaces, and further jobs are also being created”, the Minister stated.
Mr. Szijjártó highlighted that Howmet-Köfém Ltd. is embarking on a nine-billion-forint (EUR 25 million) investment project, with which it is protecting 550 workplaces in addition to creating 90 new ones, towards which the government is providing 3.2 billion forints (EUR 8.9 million) in funding. “The company is realising the expansion of a recently completed production hall, which will also be employing state-of-the-art technology, and will enable the company’s alloy wheel production capacity to increase to 2.3 million from the current 1.8 million”, he added.
The region’s Member of Parliament Tamás Vargha (Fidesz) expressed his joy with relation to the fact that the company is not waiting it out until the end of the epidemic, but is investing with foresight, and is reinforcing its positions while already concentrating on the period following the epidemic. Mayor of Székesfehérvár András Cser-Palkovics (Fidesz) emphasised that following the since completed production hall construction project announced in March 2018, the construction of another production hall is now beginning; the plans announced when the foundation stone of the first production hall was laid are now beginning to be realised.
CEO of Howmet-Köfém Limited István Katus confirmed that the company’s new production hall was recently completed with an investment of 40 billion forints (EUR 111.3 million), and the new plant will be established next to it, with which the company will be further increasing its production capacities. “The plant will be fitted with the market’s most innovative technologies; we are constructing the world’s most modern alloy wheel plant”, he added.
According to the distributed press materials, the greenfield investment project will be increasing Howmet’s significance in Székesfehérvár, and production is expected to begin at the end of 2021. Howmet Aerospace (Alcoa until 2016, then Arconic until 2020), has been present in Hungary since 1993, when the company purchased the majority of the shares of Székesfehérvár Light Metal Plant Co. (Köfém). In Hungary, Howmet Aerospace manufactures forged aluminium wheels, aeroplane engines, industrial gas turbine parts, and pieces of high-technology equipment made from various alloys for aeroplanes, as well as fastening systems for the space industry. Howmet Aerospace employs some 1200 people at two locations, in Székesfehérvár and Nemesvámos. In 1996, the company established its global service centre in Székesfehérvár, which now provides global financial and administrative support to Howmet Aerospace’s facilities worldwide. The company has invested over 8 million dollars in community initiatives since 1993. According to publicly available company data, Howmet-Köfém Limited’s legal predecessor Arconic-Köfém Limited realised 38.1 billion forints (EUR 106 million) in after-tax profits last year, from a net turnover of 246.7 billion forints (EUR 686 million), following 247.9 billion forints (EUR 589.5) in turnover and 31.7 billion forints (EUR 88.2 million) in profits in 2018.