Chief of Marks & Spencer takes expanded his role
LONDON: Marks Spencer Group, the largest clothing retailer in Britain, said Monday that its chief executive, Stuart Rose, will also become executive chairman in June, taking over from Terry Burns when he steps down from his nonexecutive role.
Rose will stay with the company until he retires in June 2011, Marks Spencer said. He previously was committed to staying until 2009.
The company also appointed David Michels as deputy chairman and said Ian Dyson, the finance director, would take on responsibility for retail and human resources.
“There was no obvious successor,” said Nick Bubb, an analyst at Pali International. “And this allows Stuart to work through the current downturn - I dont suppose hed want to leave on a low note - and make sure overseas growth is well under way.”
Rose was appointed in May 2004 to fend off a bid for the company by the billionaire Philip Green. Under his leadership, MS redesigned shops and used models and singers in its commercials to reverse a sales decline. The stock dropped in January after an unexpected decline in holiday sales. Burns became chairman in 2006.
“My main tasks as chairman have been to rebuild the board and to put in place the right leadership for the future,” Burns said. “Placing Stuart in this new role creates the right leadership structure for the company.”
The company also appointed Kate Bostock and Steven Esom to the board as executive directors. Bostock will be responsible for all clothing, excluding the Per Una range, while Esom will continue to be responsible for food. Those appointments, as well as the change to Dysons role, take place immediately.
Roses new role runs counter to the guidelines in Britains Combined Code on Corporate Governance, which recommends that a chief executive should not move to become chairman of the same company.
The company said the code was a set of guidelines, “not rules.” It also noted that Rose was relinquishing some management responsibilities, that additional members were joining the board and that the company planned to recruit a nonexecutive director to take the total to six.
