Rumors of any change at the top of gaming equipment provider Everi Holdings were premature.
The company announced Thursday that it has extended the contract of CEO Mike Rumbolz for another two years through January 2021. Rumbolz’s current agreement was due to expire in May.
Rumbolz, 64, was named interim CEO in February 2016 and was given the job permanently three months later. He has been credited with boosting the company’s financial performance and giving Everi a strategic direction. Everi has seen nine consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue and cash flow growth and a return to profitability.
Rumbolz, who was previously on Everi’s board, took over a year after the company – then known as Global Cash Access – acquired slot machine maker MultiMedia Games in a $1 billion transaction.
“Mike is an invaluable leader who is well-respected across the industry, and we are pleased that we will continue to benefit from his gaming and (financial technology) industry expertise going forward,” Everi Chairman Miles Kilburn said in statement.
With Rumbolz’s contract expiring, gaming industry insiders had been speculating about a possible change in the CEO position. Rumbolz, upon taking over the interim CEO position, also held board positions with other companies and made it clear he wasn’t seeking a permanent role.
Kilburn said Rumbolz’s vision “has been instrumental in establishing a clear set of key operating initiatives.”
In a January 11 research note, Stifel gaming analyst Steven Wieczynski said Everi was one of his top picks for 2019.
“We favor Everi shares as we see two ways for investors to potentially derive outsized returns,” Wieczynski said. “Continued improvement in underlying operating fundamentals and balance sheet quality represent the first way for Everi investors to harvest returns, in our view. We expect a predictable (financial technology) business and continued commercialization of new and improved gaming hardware/software concepts to drive (cash flow) growth for Everi in 2019.”
Everi also said Thursday that it had named Darren Simmons executive vice president of the financial technology division. Simmons has been interim leader of the division since 2018 and has nearly 20 years of experience in the financial services and technology industry. He has spent the last 12 years focused on the gaming industry in a variety of senior management roles at Everi.
Shares of Everi, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, closed at $7.04, up 11 cents or 1.59 percent.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
