M&S chief wields axe as sales slide

The new chief executive at Marks & Spencer, Stuart Rose, today unveiled a dramatic clear-out of the "old guard" in the boardroom.

The departures came as M&S delivered more grim news to the City, warning that sales have continued to slide into the autumn.

Mr Rose, who is under intense pressure to deliver a turnaround by next summer, said that he would be taking direct control of the group's entire retail operations.

The boardroom is being reduced from six executive directors to three: Mr Rose; his right-hand man Charles Wilson, who will take control of IT, logistics and property; and a new finance director.

The six who are leaving are finance director Alison Reed; executive director menswear, childrenswear and home Maurice Helfgott; executive director retail, international and franchise, Mark McKeon; chief executive of M&S Money Laurel Powers-Freeling; human resources director Jean Tomlin; and business unit director, home, Jack Paterson.

In a Stock Exchange statement, Mr Rose said the departures "are not a reflection of the talents or qualities of the people involved", but added: "If we are to succeed we need to change how M&S is led and how it operates."

The latest clear-out means almost the entire top brass of Britain's best-known retailer has been changed over the past five years.

The scale of Mr Rose's task was underlined by a downbeat first-half trading statement. He said in the six months to 2 October, like-for-like sales slumped by 4 per cent. Womenswear had a "poor summer season" with only the Per Una fashion range performing strongly. Childrenswear also had "a difficult summer". Lingerie and menswear did better, he said.

Food sales fell 2.1 per cent under "intense competition".

Pre-tax profits for the first six months of the year were in line with City expectations at ?292.7 million, down from ?325.1 million last year.