FOR dozens of prospective investors at Morgan Stanley’s technology, media and telecoms conference in Barcelona, it had been billed as a double header.

Cable & Wireless (C&W) was due to make a presentation on its finances and plans, with Harris Jones, head of its international businesses, sharing the stage with John Pluthero, boss of its domestic operation.

Yet when Pluthero, nursing a cold, and his entourage breezed through the Gaudi Foyer at the Hotel Arts on Wednesday morning, it was clear that the job of running one of the telecoms industry’s oldest names had gone resolutely solo.

Jones’s surprise exit, soothed by a £5m pay-off, marks the latest stage in the rise of Pluthero, known for his shaven head, nononsense approach and sharp elbows.

Regularly clashing with the telecoms regulator Ofcom, main rival BT and the press, Pluthero made it clear long ago that he was at C&W to run a business, not win a popularity contest.

There was no boardroom bust-up, he claimed in Barcelona. He told investors: “There is no skulduggery, there is no great shenanigans. Harris knew the approach we were taking. It was pretty straightforward.”

Pluthero has at least one big fan – Richard Lapthorne, C&W’s chairman. He has said that when he spent £630m in 2005 to buy Energis, another telecoms operator which at the time was run by Pluthero, it was mainly to get its management team.

In an abrasive memo to staff in February 2006, Pluthero warned that there were tough times ahead as the two businesses were being integrated. He wrote: “If you are worried that it all sounds very hard, it’s time for you to step off the bus. This is no longer a place for the timid.”

So far, his approach seems to be working. The British business, a serial underperformer, was a basket case before Pluthero got his hands on it. Guidance for full-year, underlying earnings was raised £35m to £205m-£215m, although £15m of that comes from a pension credit.

Pluthero has wielded the axe over a tangle of billing systems, terrible customer service and a clutch of contracts worth as little as a few hundred pounds each.

In their place he is focused on big contracts for blue-chip companies, broadening his division’s reach to cover Europe, Asia and America. It reported an operating profit at the half year – the first in recent history.

“Most turnrounds fail because managers don’t see them through,” Pluthero told his investors in Barcelona. “They get distracted by the bright, shiny objects of other opportunities.”

The only shiny stuff dangled in front of Pluthero’s lieutenants is £30m in an incentive scheme designed to push managers to their limit – or at least as far as 2010. However, since the plan was introduced in May 2006, C&W shares have rallied 90%.

“We have significant rewards on offer so we can afford to adopt a more robust approach. We need the right people for the right job at the right time,” said Pluthero.

Mike Williams, an analyst at Citi, is all in favour of what is happening. He wrote: “We expect some recovery in the performance of Jamaica under his stewardship. We do not believe this management change will have any impact on prospects or timing of value realisation.”

Jones came unstuck because of Jamaica, where an ill-judged, prepaid, fixed-line service cannibalised one of C&W’s existing packages, piling on costs. It made up half of a 13% revenue slide there.

For many, touring the far-flung spots such as Monaco and Panama – a legacy of the group’s role as telecoms provider to the British Empire – sounds like a dream job. But observers said it kept Jones away from his wife and four children for long periods.

Pluthero had been dismissive of the Caribbean performance. “We should be able to do better than that,” he had said, perhaps thinking of Jones as well.

Uniting both sides of the business under one boss, at least for the time being, will not slow down C&W’s progress towardsa demerger, expected within a year.

Pluthero is already planning what life will be like for his division without the cash-rich international arm to prop up the dividend. That includes going on the acquisition trail – one of the things that got C&W in trouble in the first place.

He said: “UK consolidation is clearly one of the options for that business. Half of shareholders say they think it’s a good idea; the other half think it’s terrible.”

Pluthero also has bigger plans to capitalise on C&W’s brand strength in Asia, where it has been damaged far less than at home by the turmoil of recent years.

The son of a publican and a father of two, Pluthero was the internet entrepreneur who fell to earth – but without too much of a bump.

He takes credit for the creation of Freeserve, Dixons’ revolutionary internet-service provider that was the first to dispense with the monthly subscription model. At its peak, its stock-market value was £9 billion, but it fell back to £1.6 billion when it was acquired by Wanadoo in 2000. Now it is part of Orange.

Pluthero was later recruited by the Asda veteran Archie Norman to turn round Energis, which was folded into C&W in 2005. Since Jones left, Pluthero is in full control.

Although happy with the firm’s performance, investors are still unclear about the unexpected switch.

Some shareholders even suspect that the move may be part of a grab for power. Of course, hardheaded Pluthero would be the first to disagree.