Branson's kite is flying high with £204m dividend

Sir Richard Branson has revealed how he can afford to fund adventures such as kite-surfing the English Channel. It emerged over the weekend that he has collected more than £200m in dividends from Virgin Rail. The Virgin mogul banked more than £28m last year from dividends in trains and selling a stake in Air Asia X, meaning his total payout from Virgin Rail since 2004 has reached about £204m. Sir Richard, who turns 62 later this month, proved he has lost none of his enthusiasm for adventure as he attempted to kite-surf the English Channel yesterday. He was trying to break a record set on Saturday by his son, Sam, who managed the 30-mile journey from northern France to Kent in two hours, 18 minutes.