MARTIN Jay, one of the country's top captains of industry, the boss of Southampton shipbuilders Vosper Thornycroft, is set to retire.

This comes at a time when VT is expected to announce a boost in pre-tax profits for the first six months of this year tomorrow.

Officially a VT spokesman said there was "no comment'' on the reports of Mr Jay's departure. It is also believed that no date has been set for his retirement.

Mr Jay, who lives near Alresford, has steered the company through some tough times. He was at the helm when order books were thin and redundancies were forced on VT, but he has also seen the reputation of VT grow to its present position of one of the leading edge warships designers and constructors in the world.

One of the best known executives in the region, Mr Jay has fought hard for the company since he joined in 1989 including the recent tough battle with the government to keep shipbuilding on the south coast by successfully clinching a major share of work on the next generation of Royal Navy warship, the Type 45 destroyer.

As a result of this contract, VT is now due to move major shipbuilding away from its long established yard in Woolston to a purpose built facility in Portsmouth.

Under Mr Jay the company has become one of the UK's largest training and service suppliers and only recently said it was to expand into the American market by taking over a US defence support group.

Mr Jay has also taken a leading role as chairman of the Rose Road Children's Appeal which has a target of £4.75m to build a new Southampton complex to care for profoundly disabled local youngsters.