State to grant Ft 80 mln to porcelain company Hollóház

State-owned porcelain maker Hollóház is to receive a Ft 80 mln loan from its owner, the State Privatisation and Holding Rt (ÁPV), mainly to finance layoffs, business weekly HVG reported in its latest issue. Hollóház will use the loan for severance pay for 70-100 of its 370 staff. Hollóház needed to turn to ÁPV for funding after MKB Bank decided to stop financing it, HVG reported. Hollóház expects to close this year with losses of Ft 50 million and sales revenue of Ft 1billion. Last year the company recorded sales revenue of Ft 1.05 billion and losses of Ft 13 million, a slight improvement from losses of Ft 31 million in 2003. ÁPV decided to lend to Hollóház only after several unsuccessful attempts to privatise the company through an open tender, and an unsuccessful bidding procedure, ÁPV said. ÁPV owns 75.64% of Hollóház's registered capital of Ft 889 million. State-owned Hungarian Development and Asset Management holds 23.61%, and the rest is owned by municipalities and employees. Hollóház had net assets of Ft 714 million at the end of last year, with liabilities of Ft 590 million.