Pret’s buyers wield the axe

THE new owners of Pret-A-Manger have begun to make their mark on the under-fire sandwich chain, with a management shake-up.

Finance chief Adam Jones was among those ousted by JAB Holdings from the board, along with former chairman Larry Billett, HR director Andrea Wareham, cofounder Sinclair Beecham and US president Joanne Brett.

JAB took a majority stake in Pret for £1.5bn in May. Chief executive Clive Schlee, backed by JAB after criticism over the death of a teenager who had an allergic reaction to a baguette, remains a director.