Flutter appoints company veteran Taylor as CEO as Jackson to step down

DUBLIN, Aug. 5 (Reuters) - Betting giant Flutter said on Wednesday that company veteran and head of its international division Dan Taylor will succeed Peter Jackson, who will step down as group chief executive officer after nine years in charge on Oct. 1.

Taylor most recently assumed the expanded role of Flutter president in May, with responsibility for overseeing the group's underperforming U.S. operations following the departure of Amy Howe as head of its market-leading FanDuel brand.

The Briton has been with Flutter for more than a decade and was in charge of its main UK Paddy Power Betfair brands from 2018 to 2020 before becoming head of all non-U.S. operations where he oversaw a number of big acquisitions in Italy and Brazil.

Flutter made the announcement as it reported a lower than expected 45% fall in second-quarter core earnings (EBITDA) to $508 million, compared to the $478 million average estimate of 19 analysts with LSEG SmartEstimate.

It cited momentum in its main U.S. market as the motivation for a "proactive" increase in investment in the second half of the year that will result in a $270 million hit to profit this year.

That meant Flutter marked down its full-year adjusted EBITDA forecast for the fourth successive quarter to $2.65 billion from $2.87 billion in May.

"Investing behind customer momentum is an approach that has consistently served us well. Our momentum, and the current market dynamics, mean now is the right time to move from a focus on margin growth, to prioritizing AMP (player) growth and customer value," Jackson said in a statement.