It has been exactly three years since the helicopter crash in Alaska, in which the then richest Czech and founder of the PPF group, Petr Kellner, died. On this occasion, SZ Byznys reviewed the development of the group over the last ten years or so.
What is a PPF group
- International investment group founded in 1991 in the Czech Republic.
- It operates in more than twenty countries of the world on three continents.
- It does business in eleven areas, such as financial services, telecommunications, media, real estate and others.
- In the first half of 2023, total assets amounted to over 43 billion euros.
- The group is owned by Renáta Kellnerová and her family.
PPF is currently active worldwide, but has been withdrawing from two major markets, Russia and China, in recent years. Just leaving the first of the mentioned countries, according to director Jiří Šmejc, cost PPF hundreds of millions of euros.
In recent years, PPF has been expanding especially to the West. Apart from South America and Australia, it operates on all continents, according to its annual reports. In addition, the reports do not specify some states, only the regions in which they are located. It is therefore likely that the effect is even more global.
The map shows the countries specifically mentioned in the financial statements of the PPF group. Hovering over a specific country will display the industries in which PPF does business. The animation can be started and stopped with the button in the lower left part of the graphic.
Despite leaving two large markets, however, the group managed to report a profit in 2022 – specifically 140 million euros. For the first half of last year, the group already reports a net profit of 709 million euros. Its only loss-making year thus remains pandemic 2020, when the group lost 291 million euros.
The group’s equity also grows over the long term. This has more than doubled since 2013. It is currently attacking the 43.5 billion euro mark. The group had the largest assets in 2019, when its own assets reached 48.6 billion euros.
The PPF owes this mainly to profits from financial services. According to the group’s annual reports, these have long been one of the most profitable sectors in which the group operates.
Communications are also significantly profitable for PPF. But last year, the group announced that it would sell part of PPF Telecom Group’s assets to Emirates Telecommunications Group Company, operating under the e& brand. According to Šmejc, this is one of the largest transactions ever carried out by the group.
Click the play icon in the bottom left of the graphic to start the animation.
It is telecommunications in combination with financial services that make up almost two fifths of the entire portfolio of the group. However, a large part – specifically a third – of the portfolio is distributed in the “other” category.
Despite the gradual expansion to the West, it is still true that the foundation of the PPF lies in Central and Eastern Europe. Only in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is the largest share of the entire group, another fifth is in the rest of the center and east of the old continent. A quarter is shared by the Commonwealth of Independent States and Asian states, namely China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India, the Philippines and Indonesia.
