Gavin Patterson is to leave by the end of the year and the hunt for a successor is already under way

The chief executive of BT is to quit by the end of the year as the telecoms group fights to draw a line under years of financial underperformance and an accounting scandal at its Italian arm.

The FTSE 100 group said today that it had already begun the hunt for a successor to Gavin Patterson, who has been BT’s chief executive for almost five years and on the board for ten.

The decision to replace him was overseen by Jan du Plessis, the South African former mining boss who is BT’s chairman. Mr du Plessis will have had to deal with disgruntled shareholders worried about the safety of the dividend and disappointing revenues.

Although he thanked Mr Patterson for his contribution today, Mr du Plessis