Ian Smith has resigned as chief executive of Reed Elsevier, the Anglo-Dutch publishing group, less than nine months after taking over the role.

Mr Smith was regarded as an unknown quantity to investors when he was appointed a year ago. He surprised the City in his only results presentation in July when Reed, seen as one of the FTSE’s more conservative companies, announced an equity fund raising of almost £1bn ($1.67bn) to cut debt, a halving of first-half pre-tax profit and a retreat from positive full-year earnings guidance.