According to g7, the cash transportation sector in Hungary is technically covered by five companies, but three of the five dominate the industry. (Two companies have licenses to perform the service but this does not constitute their primary business activity.)

In recent years, these three companies have posted revenues close to HUF 20 billion, and their profits have been marginal.

According to g7, the cash transportation business is an important sector because it has eyes on cash movement in Hungary — the bloodstream of the economy. These companies deliver cash to banks, ATMs and retailers, providing valuable insight into cash movement within the country.

The three companies

The smallest, TrezEx, was purchased from Eximbank in April 2017 by GB & Partners, a fund run by Ágoston Gubicza and Mihály Boris.

MPT Security once belonged to the Hungarian Postal Service before ending up part of the Takarékbank-FHB structure in May 2015.

The largest company, G4S Készpénzlogisztikai Kft. (together with the rest of G4S’s Hungarian entities) was recently acquired by István Garancsi, an associate (and many believe straw man) of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

According to g7, the fact that these three companies have such close ties to the government can be dangerous to their clients because “informal coordination” might put an end to the competition and lead to price gouging. Furthermore, these three companies may provide business circles close to the government with valuable data on all of the country’s retailers, banks and ATMs.

Source: The Budapest Beacon

Republished with permission

Photo: Flickr - G4S security car