After 40 years at the helm, Sir Alan Sugar, entrepreneur and star of television show The Apprentice, has stepped down as chairman of Amstrad.

The entrepreneur, who founded electronics business Amstrad in 1968 at the tender age of 21, said it was the “right time” but denied plans to retire.

Sir Alan described his departure as a “planned move” following Amstrad’s acquisition by BSkyB in a £125m deal last year.

The self-made multimillionaire will continue to be involved with his other business interests which include Amshold, Amsprop, Amsair and Viglen computers.

Sir Alan left school at the age of 16 and founded Amstrad, which stands for Alan Michael Sugar Trading, five years later.

The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1980 and sold to BSkyB, owned by the Murdoch family, in 2007 earning Sugar £34.5m. Despite this windfall, the majority of his earnings – he is worth an estimated £830m – come from his property portfolio rather than business ventures.

Sir Alan will be back in the boardroom next year in the fifth series of The Apprentice.

© Crimson Business Ltd.