Royal Mail owner pays £320m dividend from his energy business

The UK energy business of Daniel Kretinsky, the tycoon dubbed the “Czech Sphinx”, has paid a £320 million dividend after annual profits rose by 50 per cent.

EP UK Investments has holdings in power generation assets in the UK, including gas plants at Langage, near Plymouth, and South Humber Bank in Lincolnshire, as well as the Lynemouth biomass plant in the northeast.

The holding company also provides market services for subsidiaries, trading commodity contracts and other services.

The business, whose ultimate parent company is based in Luxembourg and controlled by Kretinsky, increased the dividend to its parent company to £320 million in 2024, the latest accounts filed at Companies House show, from £50 million the year before.

Profit before tax rose by 54 per cent to £152.4 million from £98.7 million, despite revenues falling from £2.3 billion to £1.1 billion.

Kretinksy, 50, has invested fortunes raised from European energy assets in food, media, logistics and sports, including large stakes in J Sainsbury and West Ham United football club. Last year he completed the audacious £3.6 billion takeover of the owner of Royal Mail.

The sharp increase in earnings was due mainly to the company benefiting from its index-linked contracted prices being lower than the volatile spot market prices. It also cited an increase in trading commission and consultancy revenues.

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Additionally, the company is among energy businesses that benefit from large replacement gas-fired power generation when wind turbines are switched off because of grid capacity issues.

A spokesman for Kretinsky was approached for comment.

EP UK says its strategy is to enable the UK low-carbon transition through providing flexible and reliable energy “in alignment” with the government’s net-zero commitments.

It retains “significant interests” in fossil fuel-powered electricity generation but says it has been closing its most carbon intensive assets. In 2023 it said it ended coal burning at its plant at Kilroot in Northern Ireland, meaning coal was “fully phased” out of its UK generation fleet.

Greg Hands, a former Conservative trade minister, was last year appointed as a strategic adviser to Kretinsy.

Hands held several ministerial roles, including for energy and as chief secretary to the Treasury and was appointed to advise on regulatory and market developments, with a focus on the UK and Germany, reporting directly to Kretinsky.

Kretinsky’s UK energy business continues to explore “investment and development opportunities”, the accounts state.