In a press release issued by Austrian gaming operator Novomatic on February 28, its supervisory board announced that it had accepted the resignation of CEO Harald Neumann. The resignation took effect on February 29.
Dr. Bernd Oswald, chairman of the supervisory board, commented, “On behalf of company founder Prof. Johann Graf and the supervisory board of NOVOMATIC AG, I would like to thank Mr. Neumann for his great commitment as chairman of the management board over the past six years. Mr. Neumann made a significant contribution to the successful expansion of the group. His personal wish to resign from his position at the end of the month was granted with regret.”
Neumann is stepping down from the position for family reasons, as per the release. He will continue to remain with the supervisory board and will advise the company on international projects.
Until a permanent replacement is found, Ryszard Presch and Johannes Gratzl will take over Neumann’s responsibilities and will lead the company’s management team. Presch serves as the company COO while Gratzl is the CFO at Novomatic.
The move comes a time when Novomatic is seeing positive growth, reaching record revenues in 2019. The gaming equipment manufacturer unveiled its yearly revenue figures at the beginning of February and reported a total revenue of $5.6 billion for last year.
This was a significant turn around, as the company had seen revenues decline for the first six months of 2019, then drastically improve over the final half of the year.
The combination of Prescg and Gratzl takes the reins at a time where the company is seeing substantial growth. The pair’s primary focus will be on U.S. expansion, where Novomatic hopes to scoop up a large share of the sports betting market.
