Ex-Sainsbury’s boss Justin King takes M&S role

Former Sainsbury’s boss Justin King on Tuesday said he will join Marks & Spencer as a non-executive director, a week after he stepped back from his full-time role at Terra Firma.

King, a City grandee credited with turning around Sainsbury’s during his decade-long tenure, will join M&S chairman and fellow retail heavy-weight Archie Norman and chief executive Steve Rowe in January.

M&S has been revamping its top team to turn its fortunes around, under the close watch of Norman, credited with reviving supermarkets chain Asda in the Nineties. M&S’s sales have been suffering as cheaper rivals have piled on the pressure and shoppers have migrated online.

King, an ex-M&S director who left for Sainsbury’s in 2004, said last Monday he was relinquishing his day-to-day responsibilities at Guy Hands’s buyout firm but will keep his vice-chairman title and will become an adviser.