Ralph Topping to stay as CEO at William Hill

2013-05-13

Reading time 1:37 min

(UK).- As part of its annual general meeting, William Hill announced that Ralph Topping has indicated his desire to stay on as its CEO for at least another two years. Gareth Davis, firm’s Chairman, reported that the group had delivered “strong organic” performance with 2012 revenues up 12 % and operating profit up 20 %.

Topping was initially appointed as the Chief Executive Officer for William Hill in February of 2008 before signing a deal in June of 2011 that saw his tenure extended until the conclusion of 2013. “The board is pleased to announce today that Ralph Topping has indicated his desire to continue as CEO until at least the end of 2015,” said Davis.

“At the time of announcing in June 2011 that we would be retaining Ralph’s services until at least the end of 2013, I indicated the critical importance of keeping him in the business given his extensive experience over 43 years with William Hill,” he said. “I am delighted he plans to stay longer as I believe he remains uniquely qualified to lead the group through this ongoing transformational period, particularly to maximise the opportunities in Australia and in digital.”

The company continues to manage the succession planning for the chief executive role, he explained, adding that the preference is to look internally for candidates first.

Topping praised the progress made by the company over the last five years. “We now have significant opportunities to transform this business, with more of our revenues and profits than ever before coming from online, from mobile and from international territories. I am confident we have the management team in place to deliver further value and am delighted to continue to lead this team at such an exciting stage in William Hill’s growth and development.”

William Hill also used the meeting to enlighten shareholders regarding its annual results for 2012, which saw it report a profit after tax of us$ 358.6 million, which represented an improvement of 58 % year-on-year. “It has been a milestone twelve months for William Hill,” said Davis.

“The group delivered a strong organic performance with 2012 revenues up twelve percent, operating profit up 20 % and the full-year dividend per share up 17 %. We also made significant strategic progress, most notably the acquisition of Sportingbet Australia and taking full control of William Hill Online. It was very pleasing, as a result of these developments, to see William Hill enter the FTSE 100 Index on May 1.”