Czech Sphinx Daniel Kretinsky bags £220m dividend in energy bonanza

Czech Sphinx: Daniel Kretynsky

A Czech tycoon with major stakes in Royal Mail and West Ham United is set to pocket nearly £220m as his European energy conglomerate profits from high electricity costs.

Daniel Kretynski, pictured right, is known in City circles as the Czech Sphinx for his inscrutable approach to investing.

He saw profits at his company Energeticky a prumyslovy holding (EPH) rise to £1.7bn for the first six months of 2023 from £1.1bn a year earlier, despite revenue falling to £12.9bn from £13.1 billion in 2022

EPH controls energy assets across Europe and is a major player in the UK. It owns sites including Ballylumford, Northern Ireland’s largest gas-fired power station, and the Lynemouth biomass power station in Northumberland.

The billionaire controls 26 per cent of Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distributions Services, as well as nearly 10 per cent of Sainsbury’s through his Vesa Equity vehicle. He also owns a 27 percent stake in West Ham United.

EPH distributed £438 million in dividends in the first half of this year, according to the latest accounts. This was in addition to the £492m paid in 2022.

Kretinski controls just over half of the company, meaning he is in line for at least a £219m share of the payout.

The tycoon’s vast fortune is estimated at around £7.4 billion. His girlfriend, Anna Kellnerova, is an Olympic ski jumper and heir to the fortune of Petr Kellner, who was said to be the richest man in the Czech Republic before his death in a helicopter crash while on a ski trip to Alaska in 2021.