IRISH BOOKMAKER PADDY Power has appointed insider Andy McCue as chief executive.
McCue will take over from outgoing chief executive Patrick Kennedy, who announced his intention to step down from the post in May. He beat off competition from both internal and external candidates for the role.
It ends a short period of uncertainty for the bookies, which has seen its usually encouraging returns slightly dented by lower than expected profits in the first half of the year.
The market gave Paddy Power a slight kicking on the news:
Davy analyst John Stokes said that the decision to go with an inside man is “unsurprising, given the strength in depth of the management team”.
McCue has been with the group for eight years and has been on the management committee for the last five.
Stokes played down fears that McCue may be handicapped as he has not worked on the rapidly expanding online side of the bookie’s operations.
While he has not had direct responsibility for online operations at the group in his time there, he will now lead and be ably supported by a vastly experienced online team.It should also be noted that the current CEO had little online experience when he took up the role, and yet Paddy Power has grown to become one of the leading online gaming companies in the world.
Scottish-born McCue (40) lives in Dublin with his wife and child. He holds an MA in Economics and Management from Cambridge and a Masters in Finance from London Business School.
Speaking earlier this month, finspreads.com analyst Warren Ruhomon said that investors in Paddy Power will expect to see the new CEO shake off a run of bad luck endured in the early part of the year which saw a stream of bad results bleed around €34 million from the company.
Ruhoman said:
There is much underlying strength in this business and that ought to come to the fore by the end of the year. If it doesn’t, the company will face questions from investors.
‘Delighted’
Speaking after his appointedment, Andy McCue said that he is “very excited to be taking on the leadership of Paddy Power. Patrick has transformed the business over the last 10 years, strongly positioning us in attractive markets which are delivering good payback”.
We have a tremendous team and I very much look forward to working with them to build on that success by continuing to engage customers with the best value, product and brand.
McCue worked with OC&C Strategy Consultants and was a manger at Andersen before joining Paddy Power.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say