Ex Rentokil boss warns: I'll sue

SIR Clive Thompson is considering legal action against Rentokil after he was dramatically ousted as chairman of the pest control group he transformed into a multi-billion company.

The former president of the Confederation of British Industry is determined to protect his reputation, which he feels is being diminished by Brian McGowan, his successor at Rentokil.

Thompson had hoped to become chairman of another FTSE 100 company and said he turned down several approaches from other companies earlier this year.

But after the boardroom coup on Monday, he said, the phone had gone silent. Instead he and McGowan have been engaged in a public slanging match over the circumstances surrounding his abrupt departure.

Thompson, described by McGowan as the best businessmen of the Eighties and Nineties, earned the nickname 'Mr 20%' when he was chief executive for consistently increasing the company's earnings by at least a fifth in every year except one.

But recently Rentokil has faltered, and last week's profits warning was the cue for the rest of the board to move against Thompson, only five weeks after he cashed in £9.3m worth of shares.

He told Financial Mail: 'This is now a reputational issue. My lawyers are closely monitoring what is going on. What has happened to me is, quite frankly, disgusting.

'After I agreed to resign, we also agreed that this would be handled in a friendly way but you can see what has happened.'

The feud between the pair intensified this weekend when McGowan, who has been on the Rentokil board for eight years, claimed his biggest mistake was to agree to Thompson becoming chairman.

Thompson insisted that before he became chairman he canvassed Rentokil's major shareholders. 'They were enthusiastic - there were no qualms,' he said. Thompson is now infuriated by the board's insistence that he did not want to pursue a different strategy.

'This is wrong. I have minutes of the January 8 budget meeting when I made it clear there should be a different approach.'

But McGowan hit back: 'I don't know what meetings Sir Clive went to. None of the non-executive directors has any recollection of a difference in strategy.'

Thompson said he wanted to sell two of the company's four businesses to raise money to expand in security and hygiene and return cash to shareholders. In contrast, chief executive James Wilde wanted to boost investment in all businesses.

McGowan added: 'It has been the saddest week of my business life. Sir Clive was one of my heroes. But in the last four years - three of which he was chief executive - the business was doing very badly.'

Thompson is already in line for a £445,000 under the terms of his one-year contract. He also retains shares worth £3m.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reports that McGowan is to examine a potential break-up of the £2.7bn business-services combine.

Next Monday, McGowan will hold his first board meeting and ask colleagues 'to think the unthinkable'. He said: 'I want them to open up their minds. This is a company with no sacred cows. I don‘t know what we are going to do, I just know that something needs to be done.'