William Hill picks Worldpay’s Ruth Prior as CFO

Prior will join later this year from Worldpay, where she is now chief operating officer and previously held the post of deputy CFO, the gambling company said.

The appointment comes weeks after William Hill named previous CFO Philip Bowcock as its new chief executive officer.
Chairman Gareth Davis, a well known figure in British business, said he was planning to step down from a role he has held since 2010.

"I would envisage...to be in a position to retire from the board before the time of the 2018 Annual General Meeting." Davis wrote in the company's latest annual report.

Bowcock and his team will have the job of turning around the bookmaker which has struggled to keep pace with the rapid growth of online gambling and missed out on consolidation in the sector in recent years.

Prior led the implementation of a multi-channel payment platform at Worldpay.

"We are encouraged to see another CFO appointment from outside the industry," Simon French, analyst at Cenkos, wrote in a client note adding that Prior's experience of processing payments should prove valuable as William Hill increases revenue from outside Britain.

William Hill pulled out of merger talks with Canadian online gambling company Amaya Inc (AYA.TO) in October. It also rejected a takeover approach from smaller rivals 888 (888.L) and Rank Group (RNK.L) last year.

Its rivals have expanded through mergers with the tie-up between Ladbrokes and Coral (LCL.L) toppling William Hill as Britain biggest high street bookmaker.