Sales revenue of Hungarian PR agencies fell last year

English2021. nov. 11.MTI

The coronavirus pandemic had a negative effect on the PR industry in Hungary: the sector's turnover fell from 64 billion forints in the previous year to 48 billion in 2020, the profit after tax did not decrease; while the number of employees in the sector decreased by more than 27 percent, according to PR Trendriport Hungary 2021, a publication published on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Hungarian Public Relations Association.

It was revealed that the profit after tax was 10.9 billion forints - nearly the same as in 2019, and the after-tax profit margin almost doubled due to a decrease in intermediated services – i.e. the use of agencies purely for consultancy services -, and a reduction in personnel costs.

The analysis showed that the primary concern was to protect the interests of owners, who often took their share of the operational work. 

There were almost 1,500 companies and around 2,300 sole proprietorships working in the sector last year. 

The number of employees fell by 27.15 percent; more than 480 jobs were lost as a result of Covid in 2020, and personnel costs fell by 43 percent to 6 billion forints.

These data clearly indicate that PR agencies were operating with a smaller workforce, but at the same time the number of sole proprietorships in the sector was higher than ever before, so companies were probably trying to ease their burdens either by hiring sole proprietors as external consultants, or several people were forced to start their own businesses because they had lost their jobs.