Travis board loses last family member

Tony Travis, chairman of the builders' merchant Travis Perkins, is to retire from the company after 36 years at the company.

His departure from the group means that, for the first time since Mr Travis' grandfather founded the business in 1899, there will be no representative of the family on the group's board. The Travis family holds 20 per cent of the shares.

The news came as Travis Perkins reported an 18 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £52.3m, for the six months to 30 June. It said the market was "robust", with construction activity increasing in the first half of the year.

Mr Travis, 58, is only the third chairman of the group following his father and grandfather.

He said: "It's not my age, it's my mileage. I think 36 years is quite enough."

Mr Travis was both chairman and chief executive until 1999 when he relinquished the latter post. On 31 October, he will leave the board altogether, and be succeeded as chairman by Tim Stevenson, formerly chief executive of Burmah Castrol.

Mr Travis joined the board of the then Travis & Arnold in 1966, two years after the company had listed on the stock market, when he was 22 years old. In 1988, he presided over the company's merger with rival Sandell Perkins, to form Travis Perkins.