Monarch Group has announced the appointment of Barry Nightingale as group chief financial officer with effect from January 2015. 

He joins from the £9 billion-turnover Betfred Group of companies, where he has been chief financial officer since November 2008.

In 2011, Nightingale led Betfred’s successful £265 million acquisition of the Tote.

He subsequently led the successful integration of Betfred and the Tote, driving full synergies ahead of schedule, and negotiated ground-breaking commercial arrangements with 60 UK racecourses.

Prior to joining Betfred, he was managing director and, formerly, chief financial officer at UK Car Group.

Nightingale succeeds interim group chief financial officer Andrew Lavery following the successful purchase of Monarch by Greybull Capital in October.

Commenting on the appointment of Barry Nightingale, Monarch Group chief executive Andrew Swaffield said: “I am delighted to appoint Barry as our new chief financial officer and to welcome him to the Monarch Group.

“He brings a wealth of senior management and finance experience from a number of large consumer-facing businesses, which will be invaluable to us in on our exciting next phase under new ownership.”