888 Holdings names Anna Barsby as chief product and technology officer

Anna Barsby will be responsible for leading 888’s technology integration.

UK.- The FTSE 250-listed gambling operator 888 Holdings has named Anna Barsby as its chief product and technology officer. It’s the latest executive appointment since the company’s acquisition of William Hill’s European assets in July.

Barsby is a non-executive director at Cumberland Building Society and a founder and managing partner of the management consultancy Tessiant. She will have responsibility for advancing the company’s technology integration following the merger, which 888 sees as a vital part of the synergies to be gained and of its efforts to improve customer experience.

The company said: “Anna is a digital expert with a huge breadth of experience in digital transformation and integration. She led significant transformative projects for companies including Morrisons and Halfords, including as CIO at the latter, as it went through a period of award-winning digital transformation. The company took significant market share as a result, alongside integrating a new service and brand.”

888 CEO Itai Pazner said: “We are delighted to welcome Anna to our new executive leadership team, where she will play a pivotal role in driving forward the key area of technology integration as part of our transformational combination with William Hill. 

“Her significant experience and expertise will be invaluable as we seek to unlock the significant potential of our two highly complementary businesses, and we very much look forward to working with her.”

Meanwhile, 888 has announced that it will advance its debt reduction strategy by using its 888 Acquisitions Limited subsidiary. It plans to market €200m in senior secured notes including Senior Secured Fixed Rate Notes due 2027 and euro-denominated Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due 2028.

Exempt from US Securities Act registration requirements, the additional notes will be offered under the indenture date of 19 July 2022. For this date, 888 Acquisitions issued €400m Senior Secured Fixed Rate Notes due 2027 and €300m Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due 2028.

888 said: “The company will use the gross proceeds of the offering to repay and permanently cancel the same amount of its existing indebtedness under the sterling-denominated term loan A facility made available to the issuer pursuant to a senior facilities agreement dated 29 June 2022 (as amended and restated on 19 July 2022). 

“The company will transact appropriate hedging arrangements, and the overall exercise is not expected to materially impact the company’s overall cost of debt, cash interest costs or leverage ratio.”

Last week, 888 Holdings announced an updated strategy at its Capital Markets Day in London. The company outlined plans to concentrate on a “smaller number of key markets” in 2025 to cut its leverage.

It forecasts revenue of more than £2bn in 2025, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin of more than 23 per cent and adjusted net debt/EBITDA of less than 3.5x. That’s based on a focus on a “refined” number of key markets in which it aims to gain greater market share.

The company will also seek to accelerate cost synergies from its acquisition of William Hill’s European operations. It foresees pre-tax cost synergies of approximately £150m, with about £87m in operating cost synergies expected to be achieved in 2023.