17/05/2005

M&S announce new chairman

Marks and Spencer have announced that chairman Paul Myners will step down at the company’s annual general meeting in July 2006.

Lord Burns, who is currently chairman of Abbey National and Welsh Water, as well as a non-executive director of Banco Santender Central Hispano, Pearson Group and British Land, will replace Mr Myners.

Lord Burns will join the M&S board as deputy chairman on October 1 2005, before taking the post of chairman next July.

Commenting on his new post, Lord Burns said: “Marks & Spencer is a company with a great brand and a strong heritage. I am very pleased to be joining the board at this important time.”

The announcement follows last month’s trading figures, which showed declining like-for-like food sales in the company’s major city centre stores. However, the company reported that sales at Simply Food and out-of-town food sales remained strong and, overall, food sales were growing and market share had been maintained.

Marks & Spencer said that the trading environment remained “difficult” but chief executive Stuart Rose added: “The company is going through substantial change and we believe we are making progress tackling the underlying issues that we face.”

(KMcA/SP)

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