GVC’s Alexander agrees to £150k pay cut

Kenneth Alexander, chief executive of GVC Holdings, has agreed to take a pay cut of £150,000 (€169,888/$188,941) following pressure from the operator's shareholders.

GVC has confirmed that Alexander volunteered to reduce his annual salary from £950,000 to £800,000. This will come into effect from June 1 this year.

The operator said Alexander’s offer to lower his pay “was made in light of recent shareholder and proxy adviser feedback on GVC’s 2018 remuneration report and on our Remuneration committee chair”.

Alexander attracted criticism from investors in March of this year when he sold 2.06m shares worth £13.7m. The sale hit GVC’s share price, with its value down 14% in just one day – the largest fall in nine years – pushing the price down to its lowest level since July 2016.

However, after he was then awarded an additional 453,625 shares later in March as part of an incentive and bonus plan, Alexander said that he had no intention of selling any of these or his other shares while he served as chief executive.

“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.

At the time, Alexander also praised GVC’s “excellent start to the year”, and the operator followed up on this by announcing an 8% year-on-year rise in net gaming revenue for the first quarter. This followed its 2018 revenue soaring to £3.0bn. 

Under his leadership the operator has evolved from a minor player to the UK's largest igaming operator, following acquisitions of the likes of Sportingbet, bwin.party and Ladbrokes Coral.