Shock as Rentokil dumps chief

RENTOKIL INITIAL, the struggling security-to-parcels delivery business, announced today that chief executive James Wilde was leaving just weeks after giving him unqualified backing.

The company said Wilde, who was on a salary of £647,000, had left by 'mutual consent' and that chairman Sir Brian McGowan would take over until a replacement can be found.

The startling move comes just two months after McGowan led a boardroom coup that resulted in the acrimonious departure of chairman Sir Clive Thompson. At the time McGowan said it was 'the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my career.' Just 10 weeks on, it has now been decided the company needs yet another fresh face at the top.

McGowan said in a statement today: 'The board wishes James well. He initiated a number of much-needed changes and the board is committed to continuing and indeed accelerating the good work that he started.'

Wilde may well have suffered from an awful presentation at Rentokil's annual general meeting at the end of May when one shareholder attacked him for a 'halting, verbose and unrehearsed' speech.

McGowan has been leading a review of the business ever since the annual meeting in a bid to turn the company around and invest in longer-term growth. He believes Thompson was too obsessed with short-term targets.

McGowan promised to deliver the results of his review at the end of August. 'In the meantime we have no reason to change the statement made at the AGM regarding the outlook for the full year,' he said.

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