M&S: Retailer flouted City rules

ATTEMPTS by besieged retailer Marks & Spencer to conceal details of potentially embarrassing share deals by new chief executive Stuart Rose broke City rules for quoted companies, Financial Mail has established.

Ten days ago, the company admitted that Rose owned 135,000 M&S shares, bought before he was brought into the retailer as chief executive on May 31. But the announcement failed to disclose when the shares were acquired or how much Rose paid. And M&S revealed that Rose had told the company of his holding only on June 16 - two weeks after he was appointed.

These failures breach the UK Listing Authority's rules for quoted companies. The rules say that a director must tell a company about shares he holds within five days at most.

Then the company must announce not only the number of shares involved but also their price and the date of purchase, both of which M&S failed to do. Until last weekend, M&S had flatly refused to say when Rose acquired his holding.

Only after inquiries by Financial Mail did it emerge that most of the shares were bought on the afternoon of May 7.

The Financial Services Authority is likely to contact M&S. It can censure or fine companies and directors.

M&S said of the delay: 'It took us slightly longer than it should have.'