Hungarian government doesn’t expect EU ruling on extraordinary telecom tax this year, Népszabadság says, citing the Economy Ministry. Ruling against the tax would create budget hole as deep as HUF 200bn, Hungarian daily says.
Our view:
The earliest decision could occur in the spring of 2013. If the EU Court deems the telecom tax as illegitimate, then such a ruling would be highly favorable to , as the company could receive payments of roughly HUF 78bn (€ 280m) from the Hungarian government, translating to roughly HUF 75 per MTEL share. However, the Hungarian authorities insist that the telecom tax (levied for 3 years during 2010-2012) is in line with EU laws and will do everything to avoid a payment of this scale thus we attach a low probability for such a bullish scenario. There are similar court cases ongoing against Spain and France, which could serve as precedents if rulings occur there earlier than in the Hungarian case.