Shareholders have voted to take one of the county’s best-known winemakers private again.

Gusbourne, based in Appledore, said the costs of maintaining its public company status - its shares are listed on London’s Alternative Stock Market (AIM) - would have been “difficult to justify” adding it will benefit from the “more flexible requirements and lower overhead costs associated with private limited company status”.

It came after the company received a request from Belize Finance Ltd on behalf of Gusbourne’s majority shareholder Lord Ashcroft - the former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.

He owns 66.8% of the firm’s share capital. The request called for shareholders to “consider a resolution to delist the company from the AIM market”.

It was unanimously passed at a general meeting held on Friday.

As a consequence, it is expected there will be a number of changes to its board. They include the departure of non-executive chairman Jim Ormonde and non-execs Ian Robinson and Lord Arbuthnot.

Chief commercial officer, Simon Bradbury, is also set to step down from the board - but continues as a “key leader and decision maker within the business”.

The final day of trading in Gusbourne shares will be March 18 with its delisting taking place at 7am on March 19.