Whiteside, whose departure is effective from 31 January, moved into the role of chairman last year after the group was dissolved and split into two standalone companies.

An Adare spokesperson said: “After over 30 years in the sector – over 20 years at Adare and over 10 years running the group as chief executive, Robert agreed to stay on for six months in a non-executive role, to be on hand for the businesses, and management, post separation which took place on 31 July 2017 when the group structure was dissolved.

“During his tenure at Adare, Robert has run several Adare Group operations as managing director and has driven the business strategy involving product and service diversification, global expansion, multiple acquisitions, disposals of non-core assets and integrations, but now wants to fulfil some personal goals and pursue other opportunities.”

The spokesperson added Whiteside’s successor will be announced “in due course”.

At the time of the group restructure, Whiteside said he had planned to separate the two businesses since before UK private equity house Endless LLP became majority shareholder after a secondary MBO in April 2015.

£170m-turnover print management operation Adare International, with headquarters in Basingstoke and offices UK-wide and globally, is led by chief executive Andrew Dutton, who joined the business in 2016.

Circa-£75m turnover Adare SEC, which has sites in Huddersfield and Redditch, is now headed up by recently appointed chief executive Richard Slee. The firm recently invested more than £750,000 on the installation of and upgrades to several machines at its two sites.