Scotland's First Minister has pulled out of making a speech to an annual conference of company directors.

Alex Salmond was listed as one of the speakers at the Institute of Directors convention in London's Royal Albert Hall tomorrow.

There was no immediate public explanation of his decision from the Scottish Government.

Business leaders including Andy Bird, chairman of Walt Disney International, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Jaguar Land Rover managing director Jeremy Hicks and BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg will address the 2,500 directors at the event.