New William Hill boss: We’ll maintain “relentless” customer focus

William Hill chief exec Philip Bowcock says he will continue to put a “relentless focus” on the customer, as the new permanent man in charge looks to revive the fortunes of the iconic gambling business.

Speaking to EGR Intel following his appointment this morning, the operator’s new CEO said he was “really proud” to take the helm at the UK bookmaker and was confident of delivering “profitable top-line growth” in the future.

“We’ve got a great team, a great brand, and I think if you look at what we’ve done over the last six to eight months, we’ve done an awful lot,” Bowcock said.

“That is not just down to me but down to wider team as well, and we will continue with that relentless business focus of giving the customer what they want. We will carry on with that momentum,” he added.

Bowcock, who had been serving as interim boss after stepping up from CFO, also confirmed a search was underway to find a new chief financial officer, with an announcement likely to be made in the “coming weeks”.

William Hill’s new CEO, Philip Bowcock

William Hill chairman Gareth Davis said Bowcock’s appointment was a unanimous decision by the board after he’d proved he could deliver “real operational progress” during his temporary tenure.

“Throughout the eight months that Philip served as interim, he continued to impress the board and delivered real operational progress which is leading to some very positive trends in the performance, as you saw in our recent full-year results,” Davis said.

“There is obviously still a lot to do but the improvement in the pace of delivery under Philip and his leadership, in what was a pretty challenging period for William Hill, impressed the board.

“I’m pleased to say that Phil is the absolute, complete unanimous choice of the board, which from the chairman’s point of view is always very nice.”

William Hill had been on the hunt for a new CEO since the sacking of former chief exec James Henderson last July.

Davis warned at the time it could take a number of months to name a successor to Henderson, with former Paddy Power CEO Andy McCue, former Betfair COO Mark Brooker and Betsson CEO Ulrik Bengtsson all rumoured to have been approached for the role.

And according to Davis, the appointment of Bowcock means William Hill can now put any speculation and uncertainty to bed and get on with the job at hand.

“Two things are never helpful and that is speculation, which can get quite irksome, and the other thing is uncertainty,” he told EGR Intel.

“Sometimes that internal uncertainty is not helpful but that has closed down now, everyone is clear and the executive team that supports Phil is absolutely delighted as well. Net-net this is a win all round for us so we’re very pleased.”

Chairman Gareth Davis is expected to step down before next year’s AGM