Millionaire energy tycoon draws £43m from Ovo amid scrutiny over finances

Stephen Fitzpatrick faces growing scrutiny over finances at sprawling business empire

Millionaire Stephen Fitzpatrick charged Ovo Energy £43m last year amid growing scrutiny over his sprawling empire’s finances.
New accounts for Ovo, which was founded by Mr Fitzpatrick in 2009, reveal details of the charge to a separate company owned by the businessman called Imagination Industries.
Ovo, which is Britain’s fourth-largest energy supplier, does not provide any detail in its accounts about what the payment is for, although it follows a similar £32m charge last year.
It comes as the energy tycoon, who models himself on Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson, faces questions over a failure to pay a promised $25m (£19m) lifeline to Vertical Aerospace last month, the flying taxi company he launched in 2016.
As well as Ovo and Vertical Aerospace, Mr Fitzpatrick also owns Kensington Roof Gardens, an elite private members’ club in west London that lists Imagination Industries as its parent.
It is through Ovo that Mr Fitzpatrick has made the bulk of his fortune, as the former JP Morgan trader turned the start-up into one of the largest energy suppliers in Britain with 4.5m customers.
The latest results for Ovo, which cover the 12 months to December 2023, show that the company “incurred costs of £43m payable to Imagination Industries”, which is in addition to the £32m sum the year prior.
Imagination lists Mr Fitzpatrick as its sole shareholder although Vincent Casey, Ovo’s chief investment officer, is also a director.
Scrutiny of Mr Fitzpatrick’s finances has been heightened given that accounts for Ovo’s parent company, Energy Transition Holdings, are listed as eight weeks overdue on Companies House.
However, Ovo, which recently hired advisers at Rothschild to oversee a possible sale, has claimed that this is incorrect and that it filed its accounts with Companies House on time.
The latest charge from Ovo to Imagination Industries thrusts Mr Fitzpatrick’s complex web of companies back into the spotlight.
The energy tycoon was previously scrutinised before Parliament in 2022 as MPs grilled him over £40m worth of intercompany loans and payments.
At the time, they urged him to “open the books” to shed more light on the company’s finances.
Mr Fitzpatrick, who according to the Sunday Times List was worth £2.2bn last year, told MPs that he did not recognise the £40m figure and insisted Ovo’s business dealings were routine.
Ovo’s rapid growth has led to significant teething issues in recent years, with the company rated by Which? as one of the UK’s worst-performing energy firms.
As well as revealing details of the charge to Imagination Industries, Ovo’s latest results revealed a £802m statutory profit in the last financial year, a significant swing after posting a £1.27bn loss in 2022.
This was from revenues of £8.8bn, up from £6.7bn the year prior.
An Ovo spokesman said: “Our commercial license charge from Imagination Industries is a matter of public record – as is over £140m of support provided directly to UK households during the energy crisis. 
“Our nationwide program to save customers money through home insulation and green technology will have invested a further £100m by the end of this year. Throughout this, OVO has never paid a dividend.”  
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