Aristocrat Names Dafne Guisard to Succeed Trevor Croker as Chief Executive

Trevor Croker will retire in April 2027 after more than a decade in charge, handing Aristocrat to a former Entain operations chief who joined in February. The succession landed with FY26 results in which the online real-money business grew revenue only 3% and its profit fell.

• Aristocrat Leisure said on 12 November that Trevor Croker will retire as chief executive in April 2027, with Dafne Guisard named CEO (elect), subject to regulatory pre-approvals
• Guisard joined Aristocrat in February 2026 as Chief Commercial Officer for EMEA, also running Product Madness, after a year as Chief Operations Officer of Entain
• Normalised NPATA for the year to 30 September rose 1.8% to A$1,578.5 million, or 9.7% in constant currency; statutory profit from continuing operations rose 15.2%
• Aristocrat Interactive, the online real-money unit built on NeoGames, grew revenue 3.4% to US$457.2 million while profit fell 6.2%, far short of the pace its FY29 target needs
• Aristocrat shares fell about 6% in early trading, according to Investing.com, days after Light & Wonder steered its 2026 growth to the low end of guidance

Aristocrat Picks an Internal Successor With an Operator Background

Aristocrat announced on 12 November, Sydney time, that Croker, its CEO and Managing Director, intends to retire in April 2027. In its CEO leadership transition announcement, the board said it had considered internal and external candidates before choosing Guisard, who is expected to take over in April. Croker will stay for twelve months to support Guisard, and Guisard will move from London to Las Vegas.

According to the biography attached to the announcement, Guisard joined in February 2026 as Chief Commercial Officer for EMEA, also leading the Product Madness social casino business. From January 2025 to February 2026 Guisard was Chief Operations Officer of Entain, running operations across more than 30 regulated markets, including iGaming product management.

Chairman Neil Chatfield said the board had weighed "the benefits of an internal appointment", including performance continuity. Guisard's contract sets fixed pay at US$1,050,000.

Constant Currency Flatters a Reported Result That Barely Moved

Aristocrat reports in Australian dollars. Normalised revenue fell 3.2% to A$6,092.4 million, but rose 3.8% in constant currency. Normalised net profit after tax rose 2.1% to A$1,450.4 million, or 9.9% in constant currency: the 10% growth figure carried in some early reports is the constant currency number. The figures exclude Plarium, now a discontinued operation. The final dividend is 51 cents, unfranked, taking the year to 101 cents, up 8.6%.

Aristocrat Gaming grew revenue 1.5% to A$4,020.7 million and profit 2.2% to A$2,208.2 million. Product Madness grew social casino revenue 2.2% to US$1,076.8 million in what the company calls a declining market, and profit 7.0% to US$521.4 million.

Aristocrat Interactive's profit fell to US$122.6 million, its margin to 26.8% from 29.6%, which the company puts down to exiting White Label and acquisition costs. On the call, Chief Financial Officer Sally Denby said Content and iLottery revenue each grew 17%, and Croker estimated that Interactive's US market share more than doubled to 8% after Lightning Link launched online in late July. Rhode Island, due in FY27, will take it to eight North American states, Croker said. The company expects FY27 NPATA growth in constant currency.

The Board Has Picked a Digital Executive to Run a Cabinet Business

Aristocrat Gaming produces most of the group's segment profit, yet the new chief executive's gambling-industry experience before Aristocrat was a year at Entain, and Guisard's Aristocrat brief has been EMEA and social casino. The board frames the choice as continuity, and Guisard called the handover "an evolution, not a reset" on the results call, according to Investing.com's transcript. But the skills Guisard's biography stresses, digital, product and operations across regulated online markets, map more closely onto Interactive and Product Madness than onto cabinet sales. The share fall cannot be pinned on the succession alone, since the results came out at the same time.

The US$1 Billion Interactive Target Now Needs About 30% a Year

Interactive revenue, including its share of the NeoPollard Interactive joint venture, must more than double from US$457.2 million to reach US$1 billion by FY29, roughly 30% compound growth a year against 3.4% in FY26. The FY26 rate may understate the run-rate: the White Label exit depressed Platforms, and the Michigan iLottery contract moved from the joint venture to Aristocrat Interactive only in July. Asked about the drivers, Croker said there had been some engagement on new markets since the US midterms but that it was "way too early to call". Without new online casino states, the target rests on share gains in a handful of markets.

Product Madness Is Now a Margin Story

Social casino revenue grew barely 2%, yet profit rose 7%, which the company attributes mainly to the continued shift to direct-to-consumer channels; direct sales reached 30% of revenue in the second half. Margin cannot stand in for player growth for ever, and with Guisard responsible for the unit, its FY27 numbers will be read as Guisard's record.

Aristocrat has handed its next phase to an executive shaped by online operations, just as its online division stalls. Whether Interactive can lift its growth from 3% to about 30% a year will test that choice sooner than the cabinet business will.