"Schroders has taken the decision not to renew for a further three years, " said NBS managing director, Paul Streeter.

"The partnership has been a successful one and we have enjoyed our role as title sponsors to the show, " said Robin Stoakley, head of UK Retail at Schroders. "We consider our tenure as sponsors to have been of mutual benefit and have enjoyed working with NBS, the British Marine Federation and their partners."

However, he added, we are going to re-focus our spend this year.

"It wasn't the biggest surprise, " said John Clarke, BMF chief executive. "Schroders set out to do a three year deal and they are happy with what they achieved."

The search for a new title sponsor has been under way for some time. James Gower, NBS director of marketing, told BB:

"We're always talking to companies on a range of opportunities and we took a party of five sponsorship agents around the show at ExCeL, one of whom said he was very interested."

I'm very optimistic about signing a major sponsor for the next show, he added.

Schroders may not be lost to the London Boat Show. "We are interested in exploring whether there are other opportunities to be involved in the 2006 show, " said Stoakley.