SIX directors, including Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale, have stepped down from the DCM (Optical Holdings) business run by entrepreneur David Moulsdale.

The raft of departures are noted in filings recently lodged at Companies House by the business, which owns the Optical Express high street chain.

The Companies House website also notes the DCM Optical Holdings accounts for 2014 are now overdue in being filed as they should have been lodged by September 30.

Along with Lord McConnell former accountancy boss Frank Blin, who ran PricewaterhouseCoopers in Scotland for many years, and Harper Macleod lawyer Rod McKenzie have also left.

Company secretary Graeme Murdoch, Gordon Moulsdale and June Moulsdale complete the list of those who have exited.

Lord McConnell said he had resigned from DCM, where he has been a non-executive director since 2011, as a result of his growing portfolio of other interests.

The former Scottish First Minister said: “I have been taking on more and more commitments abroad, including helping with the peace process in the Philippines, and after four interesting years on that particular board it was only fair of me to stand down.”

The 61-year-old Mr Blin, once one of Scotland’s highest profile accountancy bosses, has been at DCM as a non-executive since 2012.

Mr McKenzie, 57, is a well-known litigator on the Scottish legal scene and has been on the board at DCM since 2010.

DCM (Optical Holdings) is a client of Harper Macleod.

According to Companies House Gordon Moulsdale, 53, stepped down on June 29 this year although the formal notice of his departure has only recently been lodged. He had been a director since March 2003.

Documents at Companies Houses show the other five directors all left their posts on September 10.

The Optical Express website lists its executive team as David Moulsdale, chairman and chief executive as well as finance director Stewart Mein and chief medical director Steve Schallhorn.

Mr Murdoch, a chartered accountant, is still listed on the website as company secretary, having been a director since 2003.

Ms Moulsdale, 51, is described as a dispensing optician and has been a director at DCM since 2003.

David Moulsdale, the son of a taxi driver, set up Optical Express in 1991 with its first site in Edinburgh.

It grew rapidly across the UK through takeovers and also expanded overseas.

Along with traditional optometry and the sale of glasses the company also offers laser eye surgery, dentistry and cosmetic treatments.

The business has gone through a number of restructurings in recent years. Mr Moulsdale was reported to have bought the company’s debt from Royal Bank of Scotland in 2013 for an undisclosed sum

The most recently filed annual return for DCM (Optical Holdings) confirms Mr Moulsdale as the sole shareholder in the business.

Its most recently available annual accounts, for the 12 months to December 28, 2013, show turnover fell from £169.4 million to £143.2m while pre-tax losses narrowed from £15.1m to £6.3m.

In the accounts the net debt was stated to have widened from £38.6m to £41.6m.

The recent resignations mean six of the eight directors noted on that set of accounts have now left the business.

A spokesman for DCM (Optical Holdings) said it was “business as usual” but offered no further comment.

The directors who stood down, other than Lord McConnell, could not be reached for comment.