New blow as Regal director walks out

THE future of Regal Petroleum was looking increasingly bleak today after another boardroom convulsion saw the naming of a 65-year-old veteran as its new chief executive

But the appointment of Rex Gaisford, who joined the company as a part-time director less than six weeks ago and who has a full-time job elsewhere, has opened up gaping wounds at the company and prompted the resignation of its senior non-executive in protest.

Shares in the group - worth more than 500p each in March - plunged a further 7½p today to close at a new low of 57p, which is below the 2002 float price.

Bill Humphries, the non-exec who this week engineered the departure of Regal founder Frank Timis, walked out last night amid recriminations that the company's credibility has been shattered. Humphries, the last of the board members who floated the company, refused to comment.

But friends of his said he is leaving with his head held high. 'Bill told his fellow directors that the company was being irretrievably damaged,' said one.

'He told them he could only stay if certain conditions were met, including a full independent review of the company to find out how the money was being spent and to find out first and foremost where they stood. That unfortunately met with resistance from the executives and, with a heavy heart, Bill has left.'

A Regal spokesman said: 'Bill Humphries wanted to become executive chairman but there was a conflict of styles.' Gaisford and finance director Roger Phillips are trying to recruit a chairman, a production director to oversee Regal's wells in the Ukraine and off Greece and an exploration chief to oversee assets in Romania and Egypt. The company also needs to find other non-executives to go alongside the only one remaining, Lord St John of Bletso.

Gaisford, who is currently executive chairman of his own online recruitment firm RCM, joined Regal as a non-executive on 1 May. He had been promoted to production director within three weeks. Former Shell geophysicist Christopher Green quit last month after just five days as Regal's exploration director.