* Katie Bickerstaffe, Stuart Machin made joint COOs
* Finance chief Eoin Tonge also given more responsibilities
* Steve Rowe has been CEO since 2016
(Adds detail)
By James Davey
LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - British retailer Marks & Spencer
has promoted strategy chief Katie Bickerstaffe and food boss
Stuart Machin in a major shake-up of its management team's
responsibilities, making them the internal frontrunners to
succeed Steve Rowe as chief executive.
Marks & Spencer (M&S) said the changes were to help
the clothing and food group shift from the "fixing the basics"
phase of its latest turnaround plan to a phase that will see it
move on from the COVID-19 crisis, reinvest and restore growth.
M&S said Bickerstaffe and Machin will become joint chief
operating officers, reporting to Rowe who has been CEO since
2016.
Machin, whom media reports had linked with the CEO's job at
supermarket Asda, will continue as managing director of food but
also oversee operations, property, store development and IT.
Bickerstaffe will oversee the data, services, clothing and
home and international businesses.
If Bickerstaffe does eventually take over from Rowe she
would become M&S's first female boss in the group's 137-year
history.
M&S said finance chief Eoin Tonge will also take on strategy
and transformation planning, while Sacha Berendji, currently
retail, operations and property director, will move to focus on
the future of the retailer's store estate.
Richard Price and Paul Friston will remain as managing
directors of clothing and home and international respectively.
"Stuart and Katie will bring even more impetus to our core
businesses," said Rowe.
"With that I will, with Eoin’s support, be better able to
concentrate on building the M&S of the future and our path to
growth.”
After decades of failed turnaround attempts, Rowe and
chairman Archie Norman have attempted to transform M&S's
culture, closed stores, increased the use of technology and
improved product and value to broaden the retailer's appeal.
But M&S was still struggling to reinvent itself before the
pandemic hit.
A year ago it said the crisis would indelibly change its
business and it would speed-up its latest plan, delivering three
years of change in one.
In August, M&S cut 7,000 jobs and in November it reported
the first loss in its 94 years as a publicly listed company.
Full year 2020-21 results will be published on May 26.
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Jason Neely, Kirsten
Donovan)