William Hill hires Worldpay’s Ruth Prior as CFO
Prior is currently COO at the payments processing firm and will join the operator later this year
William Hill has appointed Worldpay’s chief operating officer (COO), Ruth Prior, as its new chief financial officer (CFO), the bookmaker announced this morning.
Prior will take over from interim CFO Mark Summerfield, currently on a secondment from KPMG, as permanent CFO later this year on an annual base salary of £425,000.
She joins the operator after nearly four years at Worldpay, where she was originally appointed deputy chief financial officer before taking up her current COO role in December 2016.
“Ruth is a strong addition to the William Hill board and executive team,” William Hill CEO, Philip Bowcock, said.
“Her experience in digital operations, online payments and finance is all highly relevant to our strategic priorities to deliver an even better customer experience and faster growth.”
Prior will join William Hill as CFO later this year
William Hill has been on the hunt for a new CFO since Bowcock, who originally joined the firm as CFO in November 2015, was appointed as its new chief executive officer (CEO) last month.
He had previously held the role on an interim basis since the sacking of the operator’s previous CEO, James Henderson, last July, with Summerfield filling in as CFO temporarily.
Prior joins William Hill just weeks after it reported a 3% drop in full-year online revenues to £545m, while online operating profits fell 20% to £101m.
However the operator said recent changes to its digital business had already led to “encouraging improvements”.
Prior said: “I am excited to be joining William Hill at a time when there are clear opportunities both to grow the business inside the UK and to expand our position on the international stage.
“I’m looking forward to working with the team to deliver the digital expertise, operational efficiencies and technology platform that will underpin the Group’s further growth.”
William Hill is also expected to launch a search for a new chairman as Gareth Davis prepares to retire from the board next year after eight years at the London-listed bookmaker.
The operator’s share price was up 0.17% to 288.30p on the London Stock Exchange at the time of writing.