Playtech to Replace Alan Jackson as Chairman

Playtech, the world’s largest supplier of online gaming and sports betting software, announced at its annual general meeting that it is currently on the hunt for a new chairman.

Former chairman, Alan Jackson, decided to quit his job at this company, so now there is an open spot for a new professional.

This software developer from the Isle of Man has been actively updating its board of non-executive directors during the past year…

…so it hired many new employees, including former Sportech chief executive, Ian Penrose.

“With these appointments now in place, the Board, led by Alan Jackson, will now turn its attention to overseeing a full, thorough succession planning process to identify a new chairman, allowing for a period of stability and integration.”

The Company Was Unhappy with Jackson

Jackson has been working at Playtech as the company’s chairman for almost six years, since 2013.

But, recently, he was put on the spot, because many shareholders were against CEO, Mor Weizer’s, really high salary…

…so everyone expected Jackson to do something about it.

Shareholders were also dissatisfied because of many other things, like the decrease in the company’s profits due to the supplier’s slow growth in the Asian market.

But, Playtech officials said that the company is on track with its yearly plans and that it is actually making “significant progress on executing its strategy.”

The company expects adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization to get somewhere between €390 million and €415 million.

More on The Company’s Results

Representatives for the company stated that revenue coming from regulated markets was actually in accordance with the trends reported at its yearly results back in February.

They also highlighted the renewed and expanded deal the company inked with GVC shortly after those results…

…through which it will supply GVC with its products and services in both new and existing markets. However, non-regulated and Asian markets continue to impact the company.

“In line with previous announcements, revenues from non-regulated B2B gaming are materially lower than in the same period last year due to our continuing shift to regulated markets as well as the drop in revenues in Asia. The backdrop in Asia remains highly competitive.”

B2C Operations Still Performing Well

The supplier’s B2C operations are actually doing well, and company reps added that “the underlying operational performance of the business has been very strong.”

Also, the contract that the company has with Sun Bingo, that was actually extended for up to 15 years in February, is expected to continue to be profitable in 2019.

The company officials also denoted two major financial developments the company had this year:

“Playtech continues to make significant balance sheet progress, successfully raising a €350m seven-year bond at 4.25% in March 2019, the proceeds of which will be used to repay the convertible bond which is due to mature in November 2019 as well as for general corporate purposes.

“The €40m share buyback programme, launched in February, has been successfully completed. This, combined with our rebased dividend, has resulted in a more balanced approach to shareholder distributions.”

Source:

“Playtech to replace Alan Jackson as chairman”, igamingbusiness.com, May 15, 2019.