The Hungarian Defence Ministry added another 3 billion forints ($14.36 million) for this year to its original 4.2 billion forint order to commercial vehicle maker Raba, the company said on Monday. Raba and its partner DaimlerChrsyler last year won a tender to supply the Hungarian army with off-road and regular vehicles over the next 15 years.
The new 65-vehicle batch ordered for this year consists of 20 Raba-produced H-18 all-terrain trucks, while the rest are Mercedes reconnaissance and command vehicles, Raba said.
The defence order is a key component of Raba's revenues, whose sales dropped by 16.2 percent last year to 31.67 billion forints as it made a loss of 7.25 billion. The company hopes to return to the black and increase sales by 30 percent this year.
On the Budapest Stock Exchange Raba shares traded at 820 forints at 1340 GMT, down 2.4 percent, or 20 forints, while the exchange's BUX index <.BUX> was down 1.89 percent at 11,261.02 points.
Source: Reuters
20.04.2004