Freedom is declining and regulation rising during the fight with the coronavirus pandemic, PPF group CEO Ladislav Bartonicek said in his introduction to the annual report for 2020.
Tension is growing between people and countries, however, the crisis also showed the ability to pull together, Bartonicek said in the introduction which he wrote for the first time. It used to be written by Petr Kellner, the group’s majority owner, who died in a helicopter crash in Alaska in late March this year.
The PPF group will carry on with the legacy of Kellner and will carry out his plans, Bartonicek said.
The pandemic claimed lives but also caused major economic losses to companies including PPF, he said.
Last year, PPF was in the red for the first time ever. It posted a EUR291m loss (about CZK 7.4bn) against over EUR1bn net profit in 2019.
The worldwide economic slowdown affected Home Credit in particular, as the consumer loan provider was the biggest contributor to PPF’s loss, Bartonicek said.
“Conversely, our telecommunication companies (TelenorCEE, O2 and CETIN) did well despite the hard times,” he said.
As the economy and life moved online, the company multiplied the capacity of its telecommunication networks, Bartonicek said.
In countries where PPF operates, it bought and gave out protective equipment, testing kits and ventilators, he added.
According to PPF’s annual reports for 2019 and 2020, PPF should buy the minority stake of Emma Ommega in consumer loan provider Home Credit by the end of 2023.
Emma Capital, owned by Kellner’s long-standing business partner Jiri Smejc, holds 8.88 percent in Home Credit.
PPF invests in a number of sectors ranging from financial services to telecommunications, biotechnologies, real estate and engineering. It operates in Europe, Asia and North America. At the end of 2020, it employed 94,000 people worldwide.
PPF’s corporate ownership and management structure is based in the Netherlands.
Kellner, who was the richest Czech, controlled 98.93 percent of PPF, according to the report.
Source: PPF and CTK
