Greene King appoints Merlin Entertainments exec Nick Mackenzie as new CEO

Pub operator Greene King has appointed Merlin Entertainments executive Nick Mackenzie as its new chief executive, succeeding Rooney Anand from 1 May.

As a member of the executive committee at Merlin, Mackenzie is responsible for the Midway portfolio of attractions, which includes Madame Tussauds and the London Eye.

A qualified chartered accountant, he was acquisition director at Bass PLC and then at Allied Domecq before joining Burger King UK as its development director. Mackenzie joined the Tussauds Group in 2002, which was subsequently acquired by Merlin in 2007.

He stayed on there to head up its property & development group. He became managing director of Resort Theme Parks in 2011 before moving across to lead the Midway business in 2015.

He is also currently an independent non-executive director of Daniel Thwaites, a role he will be relinquishing before taking up his executive role at Greene King.

Chairman Philip Yea said: "After a comprehensive search we feel that Nick's broad experience and track record at one of the world's leading leisure businesses as well as his knowledge of the pub business, both early in his career and more recently as a non-executive, make him the best candidate to lead Greene King through its next phase.

"We are looking forward to Nick taking up his role when Rooney steps down at the end of the current financial year."

Greene King announced back in November that Anand was stepping down from the role in 2019 after nearly 14 years.

At 1510 GMT, the shares were up 0.7% at 604p.