Scientific Games announces new CEO along with Q2 results

ntific Games has announced that Gavin Isaacs has left the positions of CEO and President to become Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and will be replaced by former Norwegian Cruise Line CEO and President Kevin Sheehan.

Isaacs took the reins at the provider in June 2014 after serving as EVP of MacAndrews & Forbes, the equity company that owns Scientific Games.

In his time with the company, Scientific Games completed its approximate $5.1bn merger with Bally Technologies, which included the refinancing of c.$1.8bn of Bally’s net debt.

This could have had a negative impact on financials, depending on how you look at it, with revenue increases and operating losses being a common theme of reports.

The announcement of Isaacs switching roles was released on the same day as Scientific Games’ financial results for the three months ended 30 June, where the company returned to operating profit of $59.1m, in comparison with an operating loss of $100,000 for the same period last year.

Revenue for the quarter was $729.2m, up 5%.

Isaacs said: “On behalf of my colleagues and the board, we welcome our new CEO and President, Kevin Sheehan. This is the right time to grow our leadership team and have someone of Kevin's talent, experience, and financial acumen take us to the next phase of growth and innovation.”

Reflecting on the Q2 results, Scientific Games EVP and CFO Michael Quartieri said: “Our ongoing implementation of process improvements is generating operating efficiencies which, combined with fiscal discipline in our capital spending and a focus on improving our core working capital, is leading to higher cash flow and reducing our leverage. Since closing on the Bally acquisition in 2014, our total debt has been reduced by more than $250m."

The appointment of Sheehan comes as a surprise, given that he is from another industry and is an external appointment for the company owners.

Sheehan was in the top positions at Norwegian Cruise Line for seven years before stepping down in January 2015 having been known for taking the company into the luxury area of the industry, while he is also a former CEO of hotel franchise Cendant Corporation.