William Hill has appointed three new members to its board that has been "under fire following a tumultuous year" in which the U.K. bookmaker has lost a CEO and was "forced to call off a transformative merger after key shareholders refused to back the deal," according to Ahmed & Megaw of the FINANCIAL TIMES. On Monday, the company said that it had appointed John O'Reilly, former managing director at Coral Interactive, Robin Terrell, former chief customer officer at Tesco, and Mark Brooker, former COO at Betfair, as non-exec directors. The bookmaker remains without a permanent CEO after James Henderson "abruptly stood down in July." The company announced the appointments "alongside a trading update." It reported that total net revenues increased 6% in the four months to Oct. 25, helped by a 4% rise in its online business, "which had been plagued by technical problems earlier in the year." Shares rose 2.5% in the opening minutes of trading in London to 290.7p. William Hill said that it had made “significant improvements” to its mobile sports betting apps, and had "enjoyed above-average win margins thanks to favourable football results." The company also said that full-year operating profits will be "at the top end" of its earlier £260M ($325M) to £280M ($350M) guidance -- "something likely to reassure investors after a profit warning in March" (FT, 11/14).
