The City has had a week to digest the news that Berkeley boss Tony Pidgley has moved upstairs to become chairman and judging by the share price most reacted in a pretty sanguine fashion

Maybe they’ll be more jittery when he leaves the building completely in a few years time to retire and possibly pen his memoirs in Gerald Ronson fashion. Admittedly he has never spent time in prison, but the transition from Barnardo’s orphan to Prince Charles’ polo buddy would attract a few publishers.

In his final performance as managing director last week he spoke for 45 minutes and got a round of applause from an 80-strong roomful of analysts, lawyers and accountants. Few would argue he didn’t deserve it – particularly to his face.

The week has been less kind to Chip Hornsby, as the weight of the can the Wolseley chief executive was carrying became too heavy. He stepped down to stony silence after a spending spree began by his predecessor left the company in financial trouble. Despite a successful £1bn rights issue earlier this year, the ensuing profit warning was too much for some investors to stomach.

He awarded himself a bonus of £873,000 last year despite the problems. Even so, it can’t have been nice to watch the share price rally 6% on Tuesday morning

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