Labor donor Dale Vince’s Business Empire Swarg to a loss after it had risen a £ 12 million Writeown on a “vegan gas” project and fell worldwide energy prices.
Accounts for the Holding of the Energy Tycoon, Green Britain Group, showed that it decreased to a loss of £ 7 million in the year until April compared to a profit before the tax of almost £ 50 million a year earlier.
Green Britain Group is exclusively owned by Mr Vince and contains his business interests, including ecotricity, the energy supplier he founded in 1995, the lab-grown diamond company Skydiamond and Forest Green Rovers, a vegan football club.
The sanction of the group in the red was partially activated by a £ 12m Writedown about the green gas mill from Ecotricity in Reading, which was opened in 2023, after it suffered on technical and design failure.
So -called vegan gas is made with the help of grass cuttings, instead of animal waste, which is broken down by Anaerobic digestion to create methane.
Vince defended the scheme and said two years ago: “We estimate that if we grow grass on all the marginal country in Great -Britain, we can make enough green gas to deliver the entire country.”
Since then, Ecotricity has had to completely delete its first biogas factory, but is planning to plan a new facility that it could offer gas to several thousand houses.
“A [new] The facility is under development and … will produce biomethane via anaerobic digestion, with grass from the environment as a primary raw material, ”said the report.
The project is currently in a pre-construction phase and must be completed in 2026. “
The income from the sale of electricity and gas came to £ 467 million during the year, a sharp fall of £ 551 million a year earlier when the income includes £ 123 million in government subsidies to support customers through the energy crisis.
The report said: “The government has previously started to reduce the impact of higher wholesale prices on consumers. This support was demolished during the 2024 financial year as the prices stabilized, albeit to higher than historical average prices. “
The decrease in energy prices saw the income of the company from the subsidies from the government energy bill fall to £ 8 million, compared to £ 123 million in the previous year.
Earlier this month after a decision by the Supreme Court, the ex-wife Kate of Mr. Vince get more than £ 40 million in a divorce scheme.
Lawyers for Mr. Vince’s ex-wife told the court that he gave away marital assets, of which she should be entitled to half, Including £ 5.4 million in donations to the Labor Party.
Mr. Vince founded the energy company ecotricity in 1995 after he had built an old pylon in a wind -driven telephone in Glastonbury.