Cable & Wireless has parted company with Harris Jones, the chief executive of its international division, with immediate effect, the telecoms group announced this morning.

Mr Jones, 45, will leave company towards the end of 2007 after a replacement has been found. He goes with an incentive scheme worth £4.3 million and a year's salary of £600,000.

C&W shares climbed 4p to 184p this morning, due to a 29 per cent increase in earnings.

John Pluthero, who heads the Europe, Asia and US operations, will take over from Mr Jones in the meantime. The pair ran parallel operations at C&W, only talking to each other by phone once a week, Mr Jones said in a recent interview.

Mr Pluthero's decision to rename his UK division the "Europe, Asia and US" division was a source of friction, with Mr Jones refusing to rename his international department and describing the change as "confusing" for communications with the market.

The departure of Mr Jones comes as the group cut full-year revenue guidance for its international division by $20 million to $820 million (£396 million) to $840 million while raising full-year guidance for its Europe, Asia and US division £35 million to £205 million to £215 million.

Weak trading in Jamaica was blamed for the cut in expected revenue for the international division.

It has been widely expected that the company will demerge the UK and international operations, but the group said this morning that it had no immediate plans to split the divisions into different companies.

Both executives were embroiled in a shareholder revolt this summer after the board removed a £20 million cap on their bonuses.

Richard Lapthorne, chairman of Cable & Wireless, said: "We are now at the stage where we need to accelerate the transformation of service and brand reputation, fuelling further growth in the value of International. John Pluthero has an outstanding track record in this area and the capacity for the role, with the turnaround of Europe, Asia & US now out of the recovery phase".

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