Hungarian-owned Wellis Hungary Zrt. will be realising an 8.5 billion-forint (EUR 23.6 million) investment in Ózd, creating 800 new workplaces in and around the city, and providing a dependable future for families, towards which the government is providing 3 billion forints (EUR 8.3 million) in non-returnable funding”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced at a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday.
He emphasised that in Ózd, with the help of government funding the company is taking the place of a foreign company that is exiting the region. “In February, Swiss-owned ABB announced that it will be terminating its business activities in Ózd, closing its factory there, and making its over 900 employees redundant. Wellis has purchased ABB’s abandoned site in Ózd, and will be installing new machinery at the 29 thousand-square-metre plant, in addition to which it is constructing a 20 thousand-square-metre logistics centre, and as a result of the investment project will be creating one of the world’s largest production capacities within the field of pool and spa production”, he added.
The Minister emphasised that Hungarian-owned Wellis manufactures Hungarian-designed Hungarian products in Hungary, and the company has grown to become Europe’s largest manufacturer of jacuzzis, and is among the world’s top five pool manufacturers. Mr. Szijjártó highlighted the fact that, thanks to the efforts of the past ten years the Hungarian economy has become robust, and Hungarian-owned enterprises have been established that are capable of balancing out exiting foreign capacities.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade also spoke about the fact that it is also worth investing during the coronavirus epidemic, and enterprises that are investing and realising development projects now could achieve a long-term competitive advantage on the market, from which the national economy will be able to profit. “The goal is for Hungary and Hungarian enterprises to be among the winners of the new global economic era”, he declared.
CEO of Wellis Hungary Zrt. Zsolt Csafik told reporters that the company was founded in 2003, has been producing pools since 2010, and by 2020 had grown to become Europe’s leading manufacturer of massage pools. The company employs 600 people at its plant in Dabas. In addition to achieving European success, last year the company also appeared on the United States market, opening warehouse centres in Miami and New York, with 50 dealers marketing Wellis’s massage pools on the East Coast.
Member of Parliament for the Ózd area Gábor Riz (Fidesz) said Wellis’s investment project is providing work for families living in the region, and the city is working to facilitate the establishment of other enterprises in the city.