Lovering to quit M&B as his 'rescue job is completed'

PUBS group Mitchells & Butlers will confirm this week that private equity specialist John Lovering is to abruptly quit just a year after he was parachuted in amid a boardroom upheaval.

It is understood that Lovering, a retail veteran who once ran Debenhams department store chain, has told the M&B board he thinks his restructuring job at M&B is done. An announcement may come as early as this morning. It comes before the AGM on Thursday of M&B, whose 90 Scottish outlets include the Sheep Heid Inn in Edinburgh. M&B's best-known chains include All Bar One and Harvester.

It is believed Lovering will be joined in leaving by Mike Balfour, founder of the Fitness First gym chain, who was brought on to the board at Lovering's suggestion.

The pair, together with Jeremy Blood, former managing director of Scottish & Newcastle breweries, and Simon Burke, former boss of Hamleys toy store, joined the pubs group at last January's stormy AGM.

Their appointments followed a campaign by M&B's biggest shareholders, including Joe Lewis, the billionaire currency trader who holds a 23 per cent stake in the company. The dispute led to the ousting of former chairman Simon Laffin.

The rebel shareholders had been unhappy at the poor share price performance of M&B. Since then, Lovering has raised 600 million from selling the group's ten-pin bowling arm and hundreds of pubs. However, it is understood he became disenchanted with the public spotlight compared with the more secretive world of private equity.

Criticism of the non-executives by Pirc, the shareholder lobby group, who thought they were too close to Lewis, is understood to have influenced Lovering's decision. Burke and Blood are believed to be staying.