The chief executive of Midland lingerie designer and supplier Intimas has quit after job cuts and a reorganisation of the business went badly wrong.

Carol Duncumb, aged 44, will officially leave at the end of August, the company’s annual meeting was told on Friday.

But with chairman John Gibson assuming the role of executive chairman, Ms Duncumb is expected to be taking gardening leave, The Birmingham Post understands.

The writing seemed to be on the wall when Nottinghamshire-based Intimas, whose brands include Lepel, Charnos and Ted Baker Intimates, published its 2007 results in March.

These showed a loss before tax of £3.85 million compared with a profit of £1.07 million in 2006.

That followed an unsuccessful move into retailing and a 29 per cent cut in the workforce.

That was said by the then chairman, Michael Hobbs, in the 2006 annual report to have had an "energising effect".

But in March this year, Ms Duncumb wrote in her chief executive’s annual review: "Our very disappointing 2007 results reflect a number of major issues, disruption and lack of focus.

"During the year, it became clear that a number of number of decisions, taken over previous years, were having a significant impact on general trading activities.

"With the advantage of hindsight, it is evident that the rationalisation initiated in 2005 had cut too deep and that the business was inadequately resourced to properly implement its plans."

Ms Duncumb went on to say that remedial measures had been put into operation but these would not show any results until the middle of 2008.

Mr Gibson said that Ms Duncumb has been "the major driving force" behind the development of the Lepel brand and the acquisition of Charnos in 2006.

"During her time in Intimas, Carol has worked tirelessly to promote the business and its products with customers, consumers and suppliers and we are very grateful for her efforts."

Commenting on current trading, Mr Gibson said the performance in the first four months of 2008 was in line with expectations.

"As widely reported, high street retailers and the clothing sector in particular are suffering a significant downturn and we continue to view the outlook for the remainder of the year as challenging.

"Nevertheless, we do anticipate a significantly better first half and full year performance than in 2007."