The fight for control of garden centre chain Wyevale is on again after rebel shareholder Laxey Partners demanded a second EGM to overthrow chairman David Williams.

The move by Laxey, which owns 28.3 per cent of the Hereford firm, comes less than two months after its resolutions were defeated at a previous EGM it called.

Now Laxey has come forward again, with the same demands as last time. The investor wants to remove directors Dianne Thompson and Andrew Lewis-Pratt as well as Mr Williams, and appoint Robert Ware, who is a property expert and former executive of business park owner MEPC.

But Laxey said it was "highly likely" it would succeed this time as a number of shareholders who voted against its resolutions had since reduced their stakes. Laxey also revealed that it believed Wyevale was in a position to return between 100p and 200p a share to investors, worth the equivalent of up to £110 million.

But Wyevale bosses hit back and said shareholders had delivered their verdict at the EGM in September.

Wyevale said: "The board is particularly disappointed that Laxey is unwilling to accept the will of the vast majority of shareholders as expressed at that meeting, and believes that its continued self-serving agenda is potentially damaging the group, particularly in this critical Christmas trading period."

Last month takeover talks with Gnome Acquisitions collapsed after Gnome said it was not prepared to pay 580p a share.