*When shareholders in Paddy Power parent Flutter gather for the group’s annual general meeting on Friday at the company’s low-profile headquarters in a Clonskeagh office park, there will be one noticeable absentee – group chief executive Peter Jackson.
The decision by the boss of one of the Republic’s largest companies not to show up in person (he will attend virtually) at its one formal engagement with shareholders in the year is a landmark move. Cantillon cannot recall a chief executive of an Irish-based listed business choosing to sidestep an annual general meeting (agm) before now.
Even in the most acrimonious days of the financial crisis, chief executives of the State’s banks turned up for an inevitable torrent of abuse from the floor.
Confirming New York-based Jackson will not travel, Flutter noted its focus on the US market and its listing there. Building materials giant CRH has the same focus, but that did not prevent its chief executive, Jim Mintern, from taking time to engage with shareholders at its agm earlier this month.
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And it’s not like shareholders might not have questions for Jackson.
After a largely trouble-free run, challenges are mounting for the business. Regulators are becoming more activist in several markets, restricting activities in the sector and increasing taxes.
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But it is the woes of its US FanDuel unit that will most preoccupy investors. Though Flutter’s Betfair pioneered prediction markets many years ago, it has found itself suddenly outflanked as that market exploded in the US – but outside the sporting arena in which it specialises.
That has turned the US from a large market opportunity into one where it now seems clear that the bookie dropped the ball.
Flutter now expects core profit growth this year of 4 per cent. That compares with more than 20 per cent in each of the past four years. Little wonder that the shares have tanked, down more than 56 per cent since the start of 2026 to a level they have not traded at in almost four years.
Against that background, the decision to engage with shareholders only virtually seems ill-judged.
*This article was amended to clarify that Mr Jackson will attend the Flutter agm virtually.
