The Maltese capital of Valletta could be earning itself the nickname of iGaming firing capital of the world after two executives from the Kindred Group, one of the best-known online casino firms headquartered on the island, have now departed in less than a week.
Wednesday’s announcement that Henrik Tjärnström has resigned his 14-year CEO role comes days after Kindred first revealed CFO Johan Wilsby would be departing the firm.
Equity researcher Alfonso Straffon shared an image of Kindred’s recent newsfeed via Twitter as the fallout from the group’s poor 2022 performance went public:
The results that “fell significantly short of management expectations,” however, now have a personal face, with both Tjärnström and Wilsby the executives to make way. That Tjärnström has resigned is arguably the most surprising, considering he worked his way to the top since he joined in 2003.
In a press release announcing Tjärnström’s resignation, Kindred introduced its new interim CEO, Nils Andén. The outgoing CEO even stated he was “very pleased” with the Kindred board’s decision to appoint Andén.
Kindred’s chairman of the board Evert Carlsson, meanwhile, thanked Tjärnström for his time as CEO, saying he had: “undoubtedly put his mark in both the history of the Company and the industry.”
In 2022, Kindred’s total revenue nosedived by 15% to £1.07bn ($1.33bn) as underlying EBITDA dropped by 61% to £129.2m ($160.6m). Despite 2023 Q1 revenue rallying by 24%, Kindred last month revealed it was considering a possible sale while exploring strategic alternatives to drive shareholder value.