Ranks appoints former Manchester United CFO
Cliff Baty will take up the CFO position at the British gambling operator on an interim basis.
UK.- The London-listed gambling operator Rank Group has named Cliff Baty as interim chief financial officer. The operator of Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca bingo continues to seek a new chief executive, following the retirement of John O’Reilly.
Baty brings more than ten years of experience in senior finance roles, most notably serving as CFO of Manchester United between 2016 and 2024. His career also includes leadership positions at Sportech, Ladbrokes and EY.
His background spans strategic and financial planning, investor relations, financial oversight, international operations, and stakeholder engagement.
The CFO position at Rank had been vacant since Richard Harris assumed interim CEO duties upon O’Reilly’s retirement. Rank is running a formal process to appoint a permanent chief executive.
The appointment comes shortly after Rank reported strong half-year earnings, with operating profit rising to £40.6m compared with £33m in the prior trading period. However, Rank faces a crucial moment as it continues to modernise while facing the challenges of upcoming rises in British gambling taxes. Remote gaming duty to jump from 21 to 40 per cent in April. Rank has projected this will have a £46m annualised impact on its online operations before mitigation.
