Aristocrat names ex-Entain COO Dafne Guisard as CEO as Interactive profit falls 6.2%

Aristocrat Leisure has chosen Dafne Guisard, hired from Entain only in February to run its European push from London, to succeed Trevor Croker in April 2027. The handover comes as its Interactive division grows revenue while its segment profit slips.

Aristocrat Leisure has picked an executive with less than a year at the company to succeed Trevor Croker. Dafne Guisard joined from Entain, where she was chief operations officer, in a move announced on 6 February 2026. She took a newly created London-based role leading growth across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

At the time, Croker said her leadership would be key to speeding up Aristocrat’s growth plans in Europe. Before Entain, she held senior executive roles at Kraft Heinz and Anheuser-Busch InBev.

The board took outside advice and considered internal and external candidates before choosing her. Guisard will move to Las Vegas. Croker will stay on to support her until November 2027. He will leave with more than ten years as chief executive behind him, and 18 years in senior leadership. On the results call, Guisard described the handover as an evolution rather than a reset.

Guisard’s incentives are set well above her fixed pay

Her FY27 short-term incentive is set at 1.5 times fixed pay. It is paid half in cash and half in deferred equity, and capped at twice that target. Her FY27 long-term incentive is set at 3 times fixed pay in performance share rights.

The contract provides severance of 12 months’ total fixed pay. It also bars her from competing or soliciting for 12 months after she leaves.

Interactive grows revenue but its segment profit slips

The leadership change was announced alongside the FY26 results. At constant currency, net profit after tax rose 9.9%. Statutory net profit fell 16.4% to A$1.37bn, because the previous year’s figure had been lifted by income linked to the Plarium sale. Group revenue for the year to 30 September 2026 was A$6,092.4m. That was down 3.2% in reported currency but up 3.8% at constant currency. The shares fell about 6% in early trading.

Aristocrat Interactive shows the tension in the online business. Its segment profit came in below the 130.7m recorded a year earlier. Yet revenue rose 17% in both Interactive content and iLottery. By September 2026, the group held 8% of the online slots market, a share that had more than doubled.

Those figures are consistent with online growth not yet feeding through to segment profit. Aristocrat kept its target of US$1bn in Interactive revenue by FY29, counting its share of joint-venture revenue. Its social casino business, Product Madness, grew revenue by 2% while the wider market shrank, lifting its market share to 24%.

Directors approved an unfranked final dividend of 51.0 cents a share, worth about A$302m, for the half year to 30 September 2026. The group expects further growth in NPATA, its profit before amortisation of acquired intangibles, at constant currency in FY27. Guisard’s start as chief executive is expected in April 2027, subject to regulatory pre-approvals.

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