The company said Mr Carruthers has had a series of “unfortunate health issues over the last 12 months” and is resigning to give him time to recuperate.

Senior independent director Richard Price will assume the role of acting chairman until a full time replacement is found.

Mr Price said: "We are all deeply sorry that Alan is leaving Brooks Macdonald in these circumstances and we wish him a full and speedy recovery. Under Alan's chairmanship the group has built real momentum towards our ambitious growth plans and I am confident those plans will continue to be executed successfully by Andrew Shepherd and his management team."

The company has grown rapidly organically and through acquisition in recent years. In September it added £350m in assets and 650 clients with the acquisition of Manchester specialist adviser firm Adroit Financial Planning.

However, like many wealth managers it has been hit by a drop in fund management as markets have dropped. In full years figures announced in September it said funds under management dropped 4.8% year-on-year to £15.7bn for the year ending 30 June. Brooks attributed the fall to the impact of declining markets on asset values outweighing positive net flows.

In October the group was forced to issue a profit correction after identifying a £5m error on its full year figures published in September. The error means that the statutory pre-tax profit for 2022 was £29.5m and not £34.5m, as quoted last month by the company.