Ladbrokes appoints John Kelly as chairman ahead of Coral merger

The appointment follows the announcement in May that Erskine intended to step down from the board this year.

Having delivered a successful shareholder vote for the proposed merger with the Coral Group, Erskine formally left the board and handed over the role to John Kelly, who will also be the chair of the proposed merger entity Ladbrokes Coral.

Kelly said: "We have an aggressive organic plan for growth under our new chief executive, Jim Mullen, and are working hard towards the proposed merger with Coral Group."

“While there has been much to do, the board and the executive team are focused on delivering for shareholders and I remain confident in the direction and momentum in the business.

Ladbrokes also announced the appointment of Mark Pain to the board as a new non-executive director and said it plans to appoint further non-executive directors before the Coral merger is completed.

Ladbrokes and Gala Coral agreed to merge in July and the combined entity's market capitalisation is around £2.3bn.