In the red corner is the East End builder who started out three decades ago doing up pubs and off-licences before floating his business on the stock market. In the blue corner is the Henley Business School-educated chartered surveyor with a 25-year career in support services.
On Tuesday afternoon Steve Rawlings, the founder of Essex building company Lakehouse, will square up to its chief executive, Stuart Black, in a crunch vote on the former’s bid to oust three non-executive directors.
Rawlings has teamed up with Slater Investments, a 6% shareholder, to call the vote, which will rule on his plan to replace chairman Chris Geoghegan, Jill Ainscough and Johnathan Ford. Together with his sisters Christine Jones and Carol King, the Rawlings family owns about 25%