As a result of the reversal, managing director James Portsmouth has left the business, while Grant-Salmon and Ritchie have reclaimed leadership of the Kettering-based company.

The three remaing members of the MBO team, Mark Christison, Darren Crawford and Lance Hill, have all retained their roles together with "slightly reduced" shareholdings.

Commenting on his return, Grant-Salmon said: "Everybody's having a bit of a tough time and the board decided it would be sensible if mine and Les's expertise was brought back into the business.

"I had always retained the chief executive position, while James was the managing director, and sadly my return, on a full-time basis, meant there wasn't room for both those roles.

"It would have been difficult for him to take a backward step within the business so we felt it was the right time for him to find something else."

Grant-Salmon added that the decision to return was a "long-term" move and not just a short-term measure to help guide the company through the current difficult market conditions.

"I'm enjoying it too much to be off again – I perhaps wasn't ready myself for the semi-retired role," he said.

"[The MBO] perhaps didn't work as well as it could have done [but that was] a result of the conditions we're operating in. I think with the economic climate, it needs some experience to help us through those situations and that's required on a day-to-day basis."