Speedy Hire (LON:SDY) confirmed it is not considering a merger with fellow tools and equipment hire group HSS Hire (LON:HSS).
Reports today suggest the firms had been talking about a tie-up since last month, with a deal supposedly a preferred option for a number of large shareholders in both companies.
However, two Speedy Hire non-executives, Chris Masters and James Morley, are said to have opposed the merger.
Both have since left the company's board, with some reports suggesting it was due to a boardroom bust up.
Masters is said to have wanted Speedy Hire's chairman, Jan Astrand, removed, something that angered colleagues and major shareholders.
Meanwhile, HSS has issued a number of profit warnings recently while Chris Davies’s decision to step down as chief executive also made a deal more complicated.
Speedy has also had difficulties, blaming a lack of equipment, poor IT systems and an ill-fated focus on larger clients at the expense of smaller ones.
Shares in Speedy were flat at 35p while HSS gained 7.8% to 56p.