Even though it was the bigger company and the stronger brand, once Irish bookie Paddy Power merged with British betting exchange Betfair, speculation began that the enlarged group would move domicile from the Republic to the UK. That got even stronger when the still Irish business took over Canada’s Stars Group and renamed itself Flutter.
It has not gone away since, despite the group’s insistence that it plans to remain headquartered here, noting the key part that its Dublin office plays in developing the risk management and trading systems that are central to many of its businesses around the world.
Speculation about the likelihood of an eventual move is likely to redouble now that Flutter plans to take a secondary listing in Wall Street, particularly as there is a question mark over whether it is possible to do this and remain listed in Dublin. The group has run into a technical problem between the two markets’ settlement systems that it is working to resolve.
Chief executive Peter Jackson said after this week’s annual general meeting that, ideally, Flutter wanted its shares traded in London, where it has its primary listing, New York and Dublin, but said the business could not guarantee that it would remain listed on the Irish market.
The New York move stems from the fact that the US is about to become its biggest division, and its sports-betting subsidiary FanDuel will this year turn profitable following half a decade of investment.
Flutter is not the first Irish company to build a substantial international presence from the Republic. The US is also a key market for CRH, which is moving its primary listing to New York. Kerry Group, Kingspan, Smurfit Kappa and Ryanair have all grown their businesses more outside this country than within it. Grafton Group moved its listing from Dublin to London, but kept its headquarters here. Paddy Power is a more recognisably Irish brand than Woodie’s, but no one questions the DIY chain’s nationality. Nor do they speculate much about the future domiciles of all those other plcs.
