Company behind failed MotoGP track reports nearly HUF600 million loss last year

At the end of May, HUMDA Hungarian Mobility Development Agency published its financial report for the last year. The company, which is responsible for the construction of the MotoGP track in Hajdúnánás, Hungary, which has been postponed indefinitely due to government cuts, achieved a slightly better result in 2023 than two years ago but still made a loss.

The company report submitted at the end of May shows that HUMDA Zrt., responsible for other sports activities as its main activity, achieved a net turnover of HUF 251 million in 2023. This is a significant increase compared to the previous year’s turnover, as in 2022 the company had a turnover of only 58 million, while before that the figure was always around 10-20 million.

However, the profit after tax still shows a loss-making operation. Last year the company made a loss of HUF 584 million, compared with a loss of HUF 2094 million a year earlier.

The supplementary annex shows that in 2023, HUMDA Zrt. largely financed the tasks entrusted to it from grants.

However, this did not prevent the company from signing a framework contract worth HUF 1.395 billion gross with the companies of Gyula Balásy, who is a regular beneficiary of state communication spending, Lounge Design Kft. and New Land Media Kft.

Two of the three subsidiaries are also unprofitable

HUMDA also has three subsidiaries, two of them, like the parent company, ended last year with a loss.

ZMI Zrt. had no revenue and its profit after tax was HUF – 1.78 million. HUMDA Lab Nonprofit Ltd. also had no income and made a loss of 3 million. The managing director from March 2024 is Zoltán Jenei, who was formerly the director general of the national hospital, who was dismissed in 2023. At the same time, he was also appointed CEO of Széchenyi Business and Asset Management Holding Zrt, the holding company that holds the maintenance rights of HUMDA.

Last year, Humda Pro Ltd. posted a net turnover of HUF 191.3 million and a profit after tax of HUF 3.3 million. This is a significantly better result than a year earlier, as in 2022, the company made a loss of 277 million on revenues of HUF54 million.

The company has changed hands several times in recent years. Since March this year, its chief executive has been Dr. Maurer Szemere, former head of the foreign affairs cabinet of Fidelitas and secretary to Prime Minister Árpád Habony. Until 2019, he also served as a member of the board of directors of the Hungarian Economic Research Institute (formerly Századvég Economic Research Institute), which advised the Orbán government. In recent years, he has been cited in the governing press as the head of Századvég’s healthcare division.

Public Interest Trust Foundation is the owner

The name HUMDA is best known in connection with the MotoGP racetrack planned at the outskirts of Hajdúnánás, which has been postponed for an indefinite period.

As we wrote last year, the founding and maintenance rights of HUMDA and another company have been transferred to a holding company established by the foundation that maintains Széchenyi István University.

In 2021, one of the largest privatisation waves in post-change Hungary took place, during which the parliament gave priceless state assets for free to private foundations, which took over, among other things, most of the institutional system of higher education and culture in Hungary. And the foundations were run by people close to the government.

The construction of the MotoGP track was announced 5 years ago

In November 2019, Lajos Kósa, former mayor of Debrecen and Fidesz Member of Parliament, announced that a motorcycle race track would be built on the outskirts of Hajdúnánás, in Eastern Hungary.

We have written about the MotoGP track, which will be built with 65 billion HUF, several times on Atlatszo. The first time was in spring 2021 when we reported that the state would have to expropriate 500 hectares of land to build the complex, but landowners were not informed about the details.

However, contrary to the official communication, it has been reported that the works are not going according to plan. In autumn 2022, it was already said that the government’s decisions to postpone certain construction projects could override the track construction plans.

At the time, there was also talk that if MotoGP rights holder Dorna Sports did not agree to the 2-3 year delay, the newly state-owned land could be used as an industrial park – even though an industrial park was built in the city just a few years ago with half a billion forints.

In September 2022, it became certain that this project would also fall victim to cuts, and the project was suspended.

In May this year, it turned out that instead of a MotoGP track, there is a plan to build an industrial park, go-kart tracks and a university centre in Hajdúnánás. According to documents obtained by the Debreciner, the government would give the site of the failed motor racing track to the University of Debrecen. The races would be held elsewhere. The Prime Minister’s Office told the newspaper that the government had not discussed the proposal, but did not deny the existence of the document.

Written and translated by Zita Szopkó. The original, more detailed Hungarian version of this story can be found here.