LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - John Lovering is set to step down as chairman of the British pubs group Mitchells & Butlers, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters, a year after taking over following an investor-led board battle.
Lovering, the former chairman of retailer Debenhams, has told the board he wants to leave as soon as a successor is found, because he feels he has done as much as he can to improve the group.
The Sunday Times said his departure was expected to be announced at the company's annual meeting this week.
Lovering joined the M&B board in January last year following a high-profile row instigated by the Bahamas-based Joe Lewis. Lewis had been involved in a public spat with M&B, who accused him of trying to take control of the board.
The group, which has over 1,600 pubs and restaurants and whose chains include Harvester, All Bar One and Toby Carvery, sold over 300 pubs in the last year, helping it to reduce debt. Its financial results have also improved, and the share price is up almost 30 percent in the year since Lovering took the helm.
M&B declined to comment on Sunday. (Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Will Waterman)