GVC CEO commits to no further share sales

Keith Alexander has said he will not sell any more of his shares in GVC Holdings while he is chief executive of the gambling giant.

Yesterday (March 27), Alexander was awarded an additional 453,625 shares in the owner of Ladbrokes Coral and bwin as part of an incentive and bonus plan.

Alexander received 344,332 shares in relation to the incentive plan as well as 109,293 in deferred bonuses. CFO Rob Wood was also awarded some 197,044 shares related to the incentive scheme.

Upon receiving the latest shares, Alexander said he has no intention of selling any of these or his other shares in the near future.

“I remain totally committed to GVC for the long-term, and as such I will not sell any further shares in GVC while I am CEO,” Alexander said.

“We have had an excellent start to the year and I look forward to updating on progress in our Q1 trading update on April 5, 2019 and at the Capital Markets Day on May 16, 2019.”

On March 8, Alexander offloaded 2.06m shares worth £13.7m (€16.0m/$18.0m). The sale hit GVC’s share price with its value dropping 14% in one day, the largest fall in nine years, pushing the price down to its lowest level since July 2016.

However, Alexander’s latest comments have seemingly boosted the operator's share price, with GVC shares closing up nearly 5.5% to 539.5 pence per share at the end of yesterday (March 28). At the time of writing this morning, the price stood at 545.26 pence per share, up 1.07% on opening.

Alexander sold the shares just days after GVC posted impressive results for 2018, when underlying net gaming revenue for the year – including Ladbrokes Coral results from March 28, 2018 – soared from £815.9m in 2017 to £3.0bn

On a proforma basis, incorporating Ladbrokes Coral’s performance from January 1, 2018, NGR was up 9% year-on-year to £3.6bn.