FDJ Reappoints Pallez as Chair & CEO, Unveils Share Buyback

La Française des Jeux (FDJ), France’s leading gambling operator, recently held its Annual and Extraordinary Ordinary General Meeting. During the meeting, the operator’s shareholders voted to reelect Stéphane Pallez as chair and CEO.

Stéphane Pallez has headed FDJ as chief executive officer since 2014 and has played a key role in the company’s growth. Since 2019, FDJ has more than tripled its turnover and is now holding a 13% market share. Pallez’s leadership also guided FDJ’s recent acquisition of Premier Lotteries Ireland and the ZEturf group in 2023. She also worked to spearhead FDJ’s expansion through the upcoming acquisition of the Swedish powerhouse Kindred.  

Prior to joining FDJ, Pallez worked for a variety of notable companies. Between 2011 and 2014, she worked as CEO of Caisse Centrale de Réassurance (CCR). She has also served the Ministry of the Economy, Finance, and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty for over 13 years.  

An overwhelming majority of shareholders (94.2%) approved the four-year extension of Pallez’s tenure at the general meeting.

Pallez commented on her new reappointment, saying that she is looking forward to turning FDJ into a European company.

FDJ’s Shareholders Approved Additional Appointments

In addition to extending Pallez’s mandate, FDJ’s shareholders also reappointed three other directors, namely Olivier Roussel, Jacques Sonnet and Florence Barjou. The shareholders also voted in favor of the appointment of David Chianese as a director representing the employee shareholders.

Additionally, shareholders appointed Deloitte & Associates and PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditors.

FDJ also approved a new share buyback program. The company added that its next general meeting will be held on Thursday, May 22.

In other news, FDJ recently posted its Q1 results and confirmed its readiness to acquire Kindred. Total revenue for the period, according to the report, was up 7.2% to EUR 710 million. The larger part of this revenue was generated by the company’s operations in France, the data showed. The company’s iGaming business, on the other hand, continued to grow and was responsible for 15% of the turnover in Q1.

FDJ also addressed the Netherlands’ potential blanket ban on advertising is not a major concern and will not affect its acquisition of Kindred. The former company explained that such a ban would benefit market leaders such as Kindred and might be a boon to its business.