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(Sharecast News) - Marks & Spencer said on Thursday that Steve Rowe will step down as chief executive after the annual results on 25 May as part of a planned succession programme, following six years in the job.
Rowe joined the business from school at the age of 15 and rose through the ranks serving in multiple leadership roles, taking over as CEO in 2016.
"Early in his tenure he outlined a far-reaching transformation programme starting with a hard-hitting presentation about the challenges facing M&S and the need to 'face the facts'," the company said.
"Since that time, M&S has gone through a remarkable period of change, and it is now in very different shape from the business he took over. Amongst many examples are the agreement to take M&S Food online for the first time through the Ocado Retail joint venture, the doubling of clothing and home online penetration, the revival of the food business, addressing the legacy store estate with the closure of over 60 stores and rebuilding profitable growth in the international business."
Stuart Machin and Katie Bickerstaffe will become joint chief executives. Machin will take on responsibility for day-to-day leadership of the business and the Executive Committee, while Bickerstaffe will focus on driving the global omnichannel, digital & data future for the business. Eoin Tonge will become chief strategy & finance officer.
Chairman Archie Norman said: "The appointments we are making today bring together a very strong leadership team to take the business into the next stage of its transformation. Both Stuart and Katie are outstanding high impact leaders with very strong track records and experience of leading businesses through transformative change.
"With Eoin, they make a very powerful leadership team able to span the full breadth of our businesses. Given the very strong recent progress we have made, keeping up the pace and momentum is critical."
M&S said Rowe has agreed to stay on as an adviser to the new leadership team for up to 12 months.
