William Hill hands Bowcock CEO role on permanent basis
Hills brings to an end its eight-month-long search to find a successor to former CEO James Henderson
William Hill has confirmed interim CEO Philip Bowcock will take up the role on a permanent basis, ending an eight-month long search for a successor to James Henderson.
Bowcock was widely expected to be handed the role full-time after serving as interim chief exec since the sacking of Henderson in July 2016.
He originally joined the operator as chief financial officer (CFO) in November 2015 having previously worked in senior financial roles at Luminar, Barratt Developments and Tesco.
“During my time at the helm, I have had the opportunity to lead a passionate, talented and committed team and we have made considerable operational progress in recent months,” Bowcock said.
“The team and I are excited by the opportunity to keep improving our position in all our key markets whilst delivering a great experience for our customers.”
Bowcock’s appointment means the operator is now on the hunt for a new CFO, while it 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.
Last month, Davis confirmed a search for his successor would commence once the operator had appointed a new permanent CEO and said he hopes to be in a position to retire from the board prior to the operator’s 2018 Annual General Meeting
Davis added: “Since his appointment as Interim CEO last July, Philip has driven the business forward at real pace and we have seen important progress across our Online, Retail and international businesses over that time.
“Our recent results show that William Hill is now in a stronger position and Philip has outlined a clear plan to continue that momentum into the future.”
William Hill’s full-year results revealed a 3% drop in online revenues in 2016 to £545m, while online operating profits fell 20% to £101m. However the operator said recent changes had already led to “encouraging improvements”.
The operator said the value of new accounts, for example, was up 29% in Q4 2016 compared to the same period in 2015 and that amounts wagered in the UK had improved from -1% in H1 to +5% in H2.
William Hill’s share price was up 0.89% to 272.00p on the London Stock Exchange at the time of writing.