Sir Angus Grossart has stepped down from the board of Murray International Holdings after 25 years, as Sir David Murray continues to develop his private interests away from the debt-laden MIH.

MIH will now be run by chairman Sir David and secretary Mike McGill, without a non-executive, and it follows the departure from the board last year of divisional directors Graeme Hill, Donald Wilson, and David Murray junior who heads Murray Capital.

Sir David said: "The board is aligning to a company which has got far smaller. We are not all one company any more, we are totally diversified."

On Sir Angus, 76, Sir David commented: "He is busier than ever. We are still working with him at Alexanders and on many private investments, a lot of personal investments."

Sir David, 61, said in April that he intended to "return as much as we can" to Lloyds Banking Group, where debt was still £369m a year ago.

MIH's last accounts showed a £97m pre-tax loss as the group exited its dominant metals business to focus on property and call centres. It sold its speciality plate and steels business in May 2012 for £14m, to a management buy-out 60% backed by Sir David's family interests.

Murray Capital with turnover well above £200m is now bigger than MIH with around £170m.

On the health of his empire, Sir David said the problems had been caused by "property writedowns".

He went on: "The group had troubled times... but we are definitely starting to see things improve, they are heading in the right direction."