Swedish gambling group Cherry AB announced the departure of its CEO, Fredrik Burvall. Mr. Burvall will stay with the company until mid-2017. He is to be replaced by Anders Holmgren who has been appointed as acting CEO until the search for a permanent Chief Executive is completed.
Mr. Burvall joined Cherry more than a decade ago. He first served as a Chief Financial Officer and then as Deputy CEO, until he was finally selected to head the company in May 2015.
Cherry’s Board, chaired by Rolf Åkerlind, recognized Mr. Burvall’s contribution to the group’s growth by highlighting that it was during his service that Cherry reported a 137% turnover growth and completed seven strategic acquisitions.
Commenting on his departure, Mr. Burvall said that he is leaving a company that is in a good position to enter a new stage of its development and further growth.
It can be said that Anders Holmgren, Cherry’s newly appointed acting CEO, is a person with extensive experience in the gambling industry. Mr. Holmgren was among the founders of Swedish online gambling operator Betsson.
Cherry is one of the oldest gambling companies in the Nordic region. Its history spans back to the 1960s when it was established as a land-based provider of gambling options. It has gradually expanded its business into other segments within the international gambling industry, thus positioning itself among the leaders not only on the Scandinavian Peninsula but in Europe as a whole.
Most recently, the company has been extending its footprint into the rapidly growing online gambling and affiliate markets through its relevant subsidiaries.
In 2016, its iGaming division was granted a license from the UK Gambling Commission. Cherry’s game development studio, Yggdrasil Gaming, was also given regulatory nod to expand into the lucrative UK market. The developer and provider of online casino content was shortly after awarded a license to enter the newly regulated Romanian iGaming market.
To boost its affiliate business, Cherry acquired several key affiliates from across the Nordics and other parts of Europe. The company had made a particularly important step in that direction through the acquisition of performance-based company Game Lounge.
As a result from its continued growth and expansion efforts, Cherry reported a 64% revenue increase for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 to SEK583 million. EBITDA for the period totaled SEK71.4 million, up 472% from the same nine months a year earlier.
