Frustrated Lovering quits pubs group M&B

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated:

 

Mitchells & Butlers, the pub group that owns All Bar One and Harvester, goes into its annual meeting on Thursday rudderless after chairman John Lovering resigned after just a year in the job.

Man drinking a pint of beer

Calling time: Lovering was 'frustrated' by criticism from activist investor Pirc

Lovering was brought in to stabilise Britain's biggest pub company last year but said yesterday he would leave as soon as a successor is found.

A spokesman for the pub group said that the retail expert, who forged his reputation in private equity buyouts of Debenhams and Homebase, had completed the job he was brought in to do.

However, Lovering was also 'frustrated' by the criticism of the company by Pirc, the investor activist group, and may have been irked by the demands of the group's biggest shareholder, Joe Lewis.

Pirc has questioned the independence of the non-executive directors at Mitchells & Butlers and has advised investors to vote against the re-election of all six on Thursday.

Since he joined, Lovering has disposed of 300 underperforming pubs.

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