The company Hockey Club Dynamo Pardubice ended up with a loss of 53.7 million crowns in the period from May 1, 2022 to April 30, 2023. The year before, the loss amounted to 19.3 million, a season earlier the extra-league club had a loss of 16.9 million. The majority owner of the company, the HokejPce 2020 company of billionaire Petr Dědek, demands that Pardubice, which owns a minority share, compensate the loss equally, which the city refuses, mayor Jan Nadrchal (ANO) told ČTK.
“According to the shareholder agreement, we are not responsible for the management of the club, that is the majority shareholder, which is Mr. Dědek’s company. The only time he could ask us to do this is in case of proof of force majeure, which has already happened here several times during covid. We are now unable to agree on whether it is at all, because it does not seem to us, and if it proves to us a higher power, then in what proportion,” said Nadrchal.
According to him, the loss of the club was not caused by a higher power, but by excessive spending. “They claim it was covid, the war in Ukraine, inflation, but it’s hard to agree with that given the hockey club, which is not a construction company. On the other hand, we have to look at what kind of contracts they concluded with the players, how they bought the players, invested money in the 100-year celebrations, bought the license for the B-series… these are all huge sums that were reflected in the loss,” said the mayor . Half of them refuse to pay for the negative result, because the city did not cause it.
Dynamo representatives do not want to comment too much on the situation now. “Negotiations are underway, we will not comment on it at this time,” club owner Petr Dědek said in a brief statement to ČTK.
The management of Pardubice is also considering whether to sell the majority of its share in the club to the main shareholder. The city could retain only a minimal controlling stake, which would, for example, guarantee that extraleague hockey would not leave Pardubice.
The efforts of the two largest shareholders to find a compromise regarding the payment of last year’s loss have not yet led to an agreement. The mayor rejects the proposal that the majority owner would pay it, but the city’s shareholding would be reduced, which would mean capitalization.
HokejPce 2020 owns the majority of 52 percent of the shares in the hockey club. The city of Pardubice holds 46 percent, the rest belongs to minority shareholders Dušan Salfická and Petr Čáslav.
HC Dynamo Pardubice
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- Generals Playoffs
- Generali Play-off preliminary round
- Barrage
