GVC announces CFO reshuffle as Q3 growth continues
Ladbrokes Coral’s Rob Wood will replace outgoing GVC finance chief Paul Bowtell in March 2019
GVC has today announced the appointment of Rob Wood as deputy chief financial officer (CFO) with immediate effect, before taking up the full time role from current CFO Paul Bowtell in March 2019.
Bowtell will step down from the GVC executive board on 5 March 2019 when the operator is due to announce its 2018 full year financial results.
Bowtell has taken the decision to join private equity firm Alchemy Partners after spending seven years in the CFO role; first with Gala Coral, then Ladbrokes Coral and finally GVC.
His replacement, Wood, has worked with the Group for six years and is the current CFO of Ladbrokes Coral’s UK retail business, the largest single division at GVC following the £4bn takeover.
GVC CFO Paul Bowtell
GVC chairman Lee Feldman said: “Having undertaken a rigorous selection process, we are delighted to appoint Rob as our chief financial officer designate.
“Rob will be a great addition to the Board and his appointment demonstrates the strong bench of talent within GVC.
“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Paul for his invaluable contribution over the years to Gala Coral, Ladbrokes Coral and GVC. We wish him well with his new role,” he added.
GVC also reported its interim Q3 financial results this morning, where online net gaming revenue increased by 28%, with sports brands up 31% and gaming brands also up by 19%.
UK retail revenue remained at -2% despite a good second half of the 2018 World Cup in Russia as European retail revenue increased by 24% with particularly strong growth in Italy after ramped up marketing activity across the bwin brand.
Growth in the Ladbrokes Coral brands was also strong; in the UK, Ladbrokes.com increased by 23% and Coral.co.uk by 29%, posting “very pleasing” net gaming revenue growth with sports wagering 9% ahead, and sports margin boosted by a strong September performance.
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GVC CEO Kenny Alexander was full of praise for Bowtell in September when he spoke to EGR Intel about assembling the perfect executive team. He said: “People are always going to move around but as far as we’re concerned I’ve got the strongest management team in the sector.
“My senior management team of four people – Shay Segev, Adam Lewis, Jim Humberstone, Robert Hoskins – are the people who have been responsible for the GVC turnaround story over the last four years which allowed us to buy Ladbrokes Coral.
“Once we acquired Ladbrokes Coral we found some very good people there like Paul Bowtell the CFO,” he added.
Alexander described Bowtell’s decision to step down as “disappointing news”.
During Q3, the joint venture between GVC and MGM Resorts soft-launched its New Jersey Android mobile sports betting app.
The launch of an iOS version is imminent and is currently awaiting Apple Store approval according to the operator. Once the app goes live, GVC will launch a full “playMGM” marketing campaign.