Paddy Power Betfair shareholders back name change to Flutter

Shareholders in Paddy Power Betfair backed the bookmaking group's plans to change its corporate name to Flutter Entertainment at its annual general meeting on Wednesday.

Investors voting by proxy approved the move by a majority of almost 99.8 per cent, group chairman Gary McGann told the meeting at the company’s Dublin headquarters.

Chief executive Peter Jackson said that it had become important that the group chose a name that was reflective of its stable of brands and not one or two of its businesses.

“I’m also very, very thoughtful that this change of our corporate name [doesn’t mark] any significant change in our corporate strategy,” Mr Jackson said.

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Flutter was a brand that Betfair acquired through acquisition in 2001.

Earlier this month, the group said that its revenue rose by 17 per cent in the first quarter of its financial year, on the back of "excellent" growth in both Australia and the United States. However, its online performance was affected by unfavourable sports results in Britain and Ireland.

The group said at the time that its “underlying momentum” remained good for the group during the first three months of the year, with 22 per cent growth in average daily actives and of 20 per cent revenues growth in Australia, thanks to ongoing investment in customer value and the recent tax increases which are strengthening Sportsbet’s competitive positioning.

In the US, FanDuel, which it moved to acquire last May, within a week of the US Supreme Court striking down a federal law against sports betting, has delivered more than a 50 per cent share of the New Jersey online market.

Mr Jackson told reporters after the agm that the group remains on the lookout for further acquisitions, having acquired a controlling stake in Georgian online betting and gaming company Adjarabet in February for €116 million.

Meanwhile, Paddy Power Betfair announced on Thursday that Nancy Cruickshank, senior vice-president at Danish brewing giant Carlsberg, was joining the board with immediate effect after the agm.