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The chief executive of Thomas Cook, Manny Fontenla-Novoa, has resigned after the company issued three successive profit warnings.

Last month, the company said profits would be hit by unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as weak spending in the UK.

The company's share price has fallen 50% since the start of July.

Investors reacted well to the resignation, with shares up 5.1% in morning trading.

Mr Fontenla-Novoa has been replaced by his deputy Sam Weihagen, who will take the role on an interim basis.

Separately, the company reported that underlying operating profit for the third quarter fell 22% to £20.1m. It repeated its previous forecast for the full year of £320m.

The Competition Commission recently gave the preliminary go-ahead to plans by Thomas Cook and the Co-operative Group to merge their High Street travel-agent businesses.

The commission said it did not expect the deal to have a major impact on customers buying package holidays.