Q&A: John O’Reilly on turning Rank around

In this exclusive interview with EGR Intel, Rank CEO John O’Reilly outlines his plans for continuing to build Rank’s online business and finally bridging the omni-channel gap the operator has been working on for years.

EGR Intel: One noteworthy area of the Rank FY results was this shift in management that you have brought about since joining the operator, what are your plans there?

John O’Reilly (JO): In essence what we’re announcing is that we’re embarking on a transformation programme which is about growing revenue and cutting costs inevitably and how we make the best impact on the business over the next two to three year period. What I’ve been doing is focusing on strengthening the senior team to make sure it is in good shape to deliver that transformation programme. We’ve recruited Jonathan Greensted from Travel Lodge as our new CIO. Tech and tech development is a key part of our business and our ability to land projects effectively in the tech space is a key part of what we do. A lot of our product offering is delivered to our customers through technology so not having strength in that space is not very smart so he is a good addition to the team. I’m delighted he’s now here and we’ve also recruited Jim Marsh who I’ve worked with in the past. Jim was at MckInsey and joins as chief transformation officer, providing that governance framework and the weekly cadence that ensures we are doing what we say we’re going to do and what we say we’re going to do is what we’re going to deliver.

EGR Intel: Under previous management, Rank had been undergoing a major shift in how it operated its online business, how much of that strategy are you changing? 

JO: What I’m not doing is changing the strategy, I think Rank’s strategy which has been clearly outlined, is the right strategy for Rank Group going forward. All the things we have been focused on, we are continuing to focus on. My sense on the outside looking in is there is considerable untapped potential within Rank. I’ve spent most of my adult life in the industry and for the last few years I have been happily sitting on the side-lines as a non-exec director and there are few roles that would have attracted me back into the sector but Rank is one of them because I think there is untapped potential. Having now done 14 weeks, what I’ve seen so far reinforces that view. All I’m doing is putting in place the right operational focus to meet the needs of the consumer.

EGR Intel: As a former non-exec director at William Hill, it’s interesting to note some of the similarities it shares with Rank, notably, solid growth in Spain and plans to do more in the market. What are your plans with YoBingo and Enracha online in Spain?

JO: We are nine weeks into YoBingo and so far it is delivering more than we had planned for it to deliver, which is terrific. It’s a great business with a really good management team. Their plans for growing the business in Spain, and maybe further afield, is definitely supported by me. For Enracha, we have a really good venues business in Spain with nine venues. It’s delivering good profitability, profit growth. It’s difficult to drive continued profit growth through nine venues and what we haven’t done yet if effectively deliver the online offering and that’s what we’re focused on. We’ve launched, but improvements in the online business will continue through this year. The team is focused on how to deliver an effective online Enracha business. I don’t think we have resourced that business well enough and the Enracha team needs more digital capability and they are going to be building out that capability up in Barcelona.

EGR Intel: What was the reason behind the omni-channel offering not being launched this past financial year?

JO: Grosvenor One (the omni-channel product) has been delayed and hasn’t been delivered to date. We’ve been talking about it for many a year and it will launch in the second half of the year. What we’ve built is an amazing proposition. It touches many consumer touch-points within a casino and for the first time will tie up online and club membership. The delay was due to the complexity of the project. We’ve built a complex set of user journeys that enables the customer to do all kinds of things with their Grosvenor One card. If it had been my project from the outset I would have done it in a simpler way. We are where we are and we’ve worked through it. It’s relying upon developers from several third party developers as well as in-house teams.