Piedmont, the investment vehicle headed by billionaire businessman Joe Lewis, has been successful in its battle with board members at pub group Mitchells and Butlers (M&B).

At the group's annual general meeting on 28 January, rebel shareholders ousted chair Simon Laffin and former chair Drummond Hall from the board, while all four independent directors nominated by Piedmont were elected. One of the four newly-elected directors, John Lovering, has been appointed chair of M&B, while Simon Burke, Mike Balfour and Jeremy Blood will also take a place on the board, bringing an end to the long-running feud.

Lovering said: "The board will put recent history behind us and move forward committed to the interests of all shareholders. We will conduct a thorough review of the business which will be presented to all shareholders by the end of March. "Our main message is to all of our employees in the business. You have focussed on delivering great experiences to our customers and we promise to you that the Board will now be a source of leadership and direction not discord and distraction."

A statement on behalf of all four newly-elected board members added: "Some institutional shareholders have expressed concern that we were nominated by a shareholder rather than emerging from a Nomination Committee process. "We share this concern and propose that we will stand for election at the next AGM and will stand down if we do not command support from a majority of shareholders excluding Piedmont."