SP Group operations director Jeremy Jones has left the company, while sales director Andrea Porter has resigned and will leave next month for a new role outside the industry. SP finance director Michael Fox is also leaving.

Lloyd Wigglesworth, St Ives group managing director of commercial products, said recruitment of a fresh team for SP was well under way: "SP is a big business now and it's too big to be run in the way it has been historically. Our customers expect it be run by a wider management team with more robust systems and processes."

Elsewhere in the group St Ives Direct operations director Darren Lowe's position is to be made redundant, with St Ives Web managing director Giles Richell's role expanded to include the Direct division as a result. 

Jones, Lowe and Fox have all been named by sources close to SP as potential recruits for Ward's as-yet-unconfirmed new venture, which is likely to be in the retail services field.

However, Ward told PrintWeek that this was not the case. "The rumour mill isn't correct - I don't have a business they would fit into at this time," he stated.

"I have no plans to operate in the same space as St Ives, particularly SP, as I have enormous affection for that business."

Ward said he was looking at a number of potential acquisitions and hoped to be able to launch the new business early next year.

Former SP chief executive Mark Lockley, who left St Ives in the summer of 2008, is also involved with the venture.