26th Feb 2014 09:00
William Hill PLC
Sir Roy Gardner joins William Hill Board
26 February 2014
William Hill PLC (LSE: WMH) announces the appointment of Sir Roy Gardner as an independent Non-executive Director, with effect from 3 March 2014. He will serve as a member of the Audit and Risk, Remuneration, Nomination and Corporate Responsibility Committees, and will take over as Senior Independent Non-executive Director when David Edmonds retires from the Board at the 2014 Annual General Meeting.
Sir Roy Gardner has extensive corporate experience, first in executive roles in the utility, telecommunications and defence sectors and then latterly as a non-executive director on a wide range of companies. In his last executive role, he was Group Chief Executive of Centrica plc from 1997 to 2006 having taken the reins following its demerger from British Gas and was responsible for growing the UK-centric gas supplier into a major multi-national energy business.
After stepping down from Centrica in 2006, Sir Roy was appointed Chairman of Compass Group plc, the global food services and catering group, where he served until February 2014. He is currently Chairman of EnServe Group Ltd and of Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd, and a non-executive director of Willis Group Holdings plc. In addition, he has a number of interests outside the corporate sector as Visiting Fellow of Oxford University, Senior Adviser to Credit Suisse Group, Chairman of the Government's Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network and Chairman of the Energy Futures Lab at Imperial College.
His other previous Board positions include: Senior Non-executive Director and then Chairman of Manchester United plc (2000-2005); and Non-executive Director of Laporte plc (1996-2001).
Welcoming Sir Roy to the Board, Chairman of William Hill, Gareth Davis said:
"I am delighted that Sir Roy has agreed to join the William Hill Board. He will add substantially to the Board with his wealth of experience and insight in terms of governance, risk management and strategy. His vast experience in multi-national operations across different sectors will also be invaluable as we look to develop William Hill further as an innovative, international and multi-channel gambling business."
In accordance with obligations under Listing Rule 9.6.13R, Sir Roy holds or has held the following directorships of a publicly quoted company in the previous five years:
· Connaught plc: 10 May 2010 to 8 September 2010
· Compass Group plc: 1 October 2005 to 6 February 2014
· Willis Group Holdings plc: since 26 April 2006
There is no other information required to be disclosed under Listing Rule 9.6.13R. Sir Roy has an interest in 10,000 ordinary shares of William Hill PLC.
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Enquiries:
William Hill PLC
Ralph Topping, Chief Executive
Neil Cooper, Group Finance Director
Lyndsay Wright, Director of IR
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8918 3614
Brunswick Group
Simon Sporborg / Fiona Micallef-Eynaud / Oliver Hughes
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7404 5959
Notes to editors
William Hill, The Home of Betting, is one of the world's leading betting and gaming companies, employing more than 17,000 people. Founded in 1934, it is now the UK's largest bookmaker with around 2,430 licensed betting offices that provide betting opportunities on a wide range of sporting and non-sporting events, gaming on machines and numbers-based products including lotteries. The Group's Online business (www.williamhill.com) is one of world's leading online betting and gaming businesses, providing customers with the opportunity to access William Hill's products online, through their smartphone or tablet, by telephone and by text services. William Hill US was established in June 2012 and provides land-based and mobile sports betting services in Nevada, and is the exclusive risk manager for the State of Delaware's sports lottery. William Hill Australia is one of the largest online betting businesses in Australia after the Group acquired the Sportingbet Australia business in March 2013 and tomwaterhouse.com in August 2013, two of the leading online corporate bookmakers in Australia, offering sports betting products online, by telephone and via mobile devices. William Hill PLC is listed on the London Stock Exchange and became part of the FTSE100 in May 2013. The Group generates revenues of c£1.5bn a year.
Related Shares:
WMH.L