Bookmaker Paddy Power has appointed Andy McCue as chief executive designate of the company.
Mr McCue, who has been with the company for eight years and is currently its managing director or retail for Ireland and the UK, will succeed the current chief executive Patrick Kennedy in January 2015.
Mr Kennedy announced his intention to step down from the role at Paddy Power’s agm in May.
Mr McCue joined Paddy Power in 2006 as its UK head of strategy. In 2009, he was appointed managing director of the group’s UK retail division and joined Paddy Power’s management committee. He later also assumed responsibility for regulatory and public affairs.
Last year, he was appointed managing director of retail for UK and Ireland, assuming responsibility for the combined retail estates and the telephone business, which has a turnover of approximately €2billion and employ 3,000 people.
Mr McCue was born in Scotland in 1974. He lives in Dublin and is married to Emer with one son. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1996 with an MA (Hons) in Economics and Management. He also holds a Masters in Finance from London Business School.
Prior to joining Paddy Power, he was a Principal with OC&C Strategy Consultants and a manager at Andersen.
"We are delighted to appoint Andy as the successor to Patrick. He has an outstanding track record and has consistently demonstrated strong leadership across the business as a key member of the management committee and in his role driving the regulatory agenda. Andy is the ideal leader to drive Paddy Power's next phase of growth," said Paddy Power chairman Nigel Northridge.
Goodbody gaming analyst Gavin Kelleher said Mr McCue’s appointment was a positive move for the bookmaker.
“He has in-depth experience across the group for 8 years, and under his leadership UK Retail has been taken from loss making to a 305 shop estate with the highest profitability per shop in the sector. Not only has he headed up the retail business, but he has had responsibility for regulatory and public affairs for a number of years. Additionally, he currently leads the group’s online and retail multi-channel strategy, which will be of increased importance going forward,” Mr Kelleher said.
In a note sent to clients, Davy analysts David Jennings and John Stokes said the appointment of an internal candidate was unsurprising.
“While he (Mr McCue) 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 chief executive had little online experience when he took the role, and yet Paddy Power has grown to become one of the leading online gaming companies in the world in that time. The group appears to be in safe hands.”
