Proving the adage that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, Tate & Lyle chairman Sir David Lees gently despatched the "why is he still here" question, regarding chief executive Iain Ferguson at yesterday's annual meeting.

In response, Sir David disclosed that he had "personally contacted" a number of institutional shareholders, after a series of profit warnings last year, to ask them if there was anything they would like to talk about privately, rather than with the chief around.