Neil Kirkby is reported to have suddenly gone on gardening leave putting chairman Owen McLaughlin in temporary control of the fast-growing company.

An Enterprise spokesman said the company would not comment on a report that appeared on website TheBusinessDesk.com.

Kirkby has played a pivotal role in the fast-expansion of Enterprise. In 2007, as then finance director, he steered the management buy-out, which took Enterprise off the stock market.

Since the deal, which was backed by venture capitalist 3i, Enterpise has continued to grow rapidly delivering services from utility and housing maintenance to street cleaning and waste recycling.

Kirkby became chief executive in October 2009 and under his stewardship revenue rose from some £400m a year to around £1.2bn. Last year Enterprise reported a profit of £77m.

The business was formed from the merger of Lancashire Enterprises and contractor ARM Services 11 years ago.