Adam Fowle quits as chief exec at turmoil-hit M&B board

BOARDROOM turmoil broke out again at the Mitchells & Butlers pubs group yesterday when chief executive Adam Fowle quit abruptly after two years at the helm.

It comes just weeks after the group's chairman, private equity specialist John Lovering, walked out. Lovering told associates he felt his work at M&B was done a little over a year after being parachuted in as part of a board coup d'etat instigated by Joe Lewis, the billionaire currency trader who holds 23 per cent of the company.

Lewis's Piedmont Group, together with Elpida, the investment vehicle of Irish racing magnates JP McManus and John Magnier that owns 17.5 per cent of M&B, won their battle in early 2010 to shake up what they described as an under-performing board.

The activist shareholders won enough votes at a heated AGM in Birmingham to install four new non-executive directors and oust existing chairman Simon Laffin and two other directors, but the top team has unravelled since.

Analysts said yesterday that Lovering and Fowle may have found it difficult to run the business with Lewis, who also owns Tottenham Hotspur FC, looking over their shoulders.

M&B, which owns 90 pubs in Scotland including Deacon Brodie's Tavern in Edinburgh and Glasgow's Horseshoe Bar, said Fowle was leaving "by mutual consent".

However, it is understood the chief executive was on a one-year rolling contract that is likely to see him pocket at least 1m, suggesting there may have been tensions behind his sudden departure.

Former Scottish & Newcastle director Jeremy Blood, one of the non-executive newcomers to the board last year, has become interim chief executive until a permanent successor to Fowle is appointed, M&B said yesterday.

Simon Burke, chairman of the group - whose chains include O'Neill's and Harvester - said: "Adam has made a significant contribution over a number of years to M&B and in particular in the past two years, developing and leading the strategic change the company has undertaken whilst maintaining a strong operational performance in challenging conditions.

"He leaves the company in a much stronger position than when he took over as chief executive and we wish him all the best for the future."

Burke said that Blood "has significant industry and corporate experience and I look forward to working with him during this interim period".

M&B said it was already searching for a permanent successor to Fowle. It is thought Lovering, a former boss of Debenhams department store group, had been sensitive at M&B that he should not be seen as Lewis's puppet.

Fowle was the last of the original members of the board before last year's clearout. M&B's strategy over the past year in particular has been to drive a more food-led offering at its pubs.

But it jolted shareholders last November by again passing the dividend and refusing to promise a payout in 2011. The group's half-year results are due on 20 May. The shares closed down 10.2p at 289.3p.