Mitchells & Butlers, the conflict-riven pub restaurant group, has purged two of its three long-serving divisional heads and sidelined a third just three weeks after the abrupt departure of the interim chief executive, Jeremy Blood.
The management shake-up is the radical initiative of the chairman, Bob Ivell, who has himself formally been in the post just three weeks. His night of the long knives is believed to have been executed with the blessing of M&B's two largest shareholders: the billionaire currency trader Joe Lewis and the Irish investors JP McManus, John Magnier and Derrick Smith. Together these two investor groups control almost half of shares and they have for years denied accusations that they have sought to exert undue influence over the board.
M&B staff at head office in Birmingham were told of the shake-up today, ahead of what are expected to be disappointing full-year results on Tuesday.
Ivell said it was "the first stage in a change programme" for the group behind O'Neill's, Harvester, Browns and Toby Carvery.
Amanda Coldrick, who ran M&B's suburban division, and Roger Moxham, who oversaw the group's value operations, have worked at M&B for 23 and 25 years respectively. Kevin Todd, the third and most highly regarded, is the managing director of M&B restaurants. He is to be in effect demoted to a new role of business development director. Aside from Todd, the remaining M&B board and the group's executive committee will have no member with more than 18 months service. A steady stream of non-executive departures in recent years has left M&B as the only stock market-listed company without any independent directors.