Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and is the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City A.M. column. Today, he looks at Entain’s future chief, Legal and General and Dexters

Entain’s new CEO will be gambling with career

Talk about a glutton for punishment. I hear that Entain, the FTSE-100 gambling group, is on the brink of putting its chips on its next chief executive.

Industry sources tell me that the anointed individual won’t be Henry Birch, the former Rank Group and Very Group boss, who made it to the final stages of the recruitment process.

For the moment, the identity of Jette Nygaard-Andersen’s successor is a mystery. Whoever Entain’s new boss is, though, will need an iron will, a persuasive approach to sceptical investors and a deft touch at corporate finance.

Make no mistake: Entain is in a mess. From huge compliance failings to misguided takeovers, the company has become the gambling equivalent of Royal Bank of Scotland 15 years ago.

Its share price has fallen by more than 40 per cent over the last year, and by even more since it rejected a takeover bid from MGM Resorts in 2021.

Little wonder, then, that shareholders are shedding few tears over the departures of either Nygaard-Andersen or Barry Gibson, its chairman.

Leading investors want........

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