VEGAN MILLIONAIRE ECO-WARRIOR SURRENDERS IN BATTLE WITH RIVALS

GREEN energy tycoon and football club owner Dale Vince has lost his battle to win a seat on the board of a rival firm.

The 55-year-old vegan millionaire and founder of Ecotricity, pictured, has been fighting for more control of rival clean fuel supplier Good Energy after amassing a 25.3pc stake.

But he has now withdrawn his demand for a vote on his and fellow Ecotricity executive Simon Crowfoot’s appointments to the board after a furious row in which Good Energy bosses said he had tried to undermine their firm for 18 years. Celebrating the move yesterday, Good Energy chairman John Maltby said: ‘We seek a constructive dialogue with Ecotricity, as we do with all of our shareholders, and see this as a positive step. We hope very much that we can put this matter behind us and would like to thank our customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders for their support.’

The power struggle pitted Vince, who owns the vegan football club Forest Green Rovers, against Juliet Davenport, 49, the chief executive of Good Energy, and her former film producer husband Mark Shorrock.

Vince had raised concerns about a lack of corporate governance at Good Energy.