Six directors resign at once from Mecom board

Two-thirds of the directors sitting on the board of European newspaper publisher Mecom have resigned.

The group, chaired by former Mirror Group chief executive David Montgomery, said it had begun the search for more non-executive directors after Sir Robin Miller, Jan Houwert, John McNeil, Richard North, Robert Pieterse and group finance director John Allwood stepped down today.

According to the Times, Miller and Allwood had attempted to stage a coup to oust Montgomery from the boardroom.

They said they had “growing concerns regarding the stewardship of the group”.

Montgomery has now split the role of executive chairman into two separate jobs, remaining as chief executive and promoting non-exec board member Alasdair Locke to chairman.

Stephen Davidson also joins the company as a senior independent director.

Montgomery said in a statement to the City: “Following the recent sale of our German titles we will continue to strengthen Mecom’s balance sheet and market position.

“We are confident that the strategy of reducing debt and focusing on the Group’s core assets will greatly improve the prospects of the group and the returns we can provide to shareholders.”