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* Richard Price named M&S's managing director clothing &
home
* Price is currently CEO of Tesco's F&F Clothing
* M&S clothing currently run by group CEO Steve Rowe
* M&S shares up 2.7% at 1540 GMT
(Adds detail)
By James Davey
LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - British retailer Marks & Spencer
has appointed the chief executive of rival Tesco's
F&F Clothing division to be the boss of its struggling
clothing and home business, it said on Friday.
M&S, one of the best known names in British retail, said
Richard Price, 52, would re-join the group as managing director,
clothing & home next year.
The appointment sent shares in M&S up 2.7% by 1540 GMT,
paring losses over the last year to 33%.
Earlier this month M&S reported a 17% drop in first-half
profit, dragged down by falling clothing sales, but said it was
confident it could fix its problems and return to growth.
In July, M&S' CEO Steve Rowe sacked clothing division head
Jill McDonald after publicly criticising poor availability, and
assumed direct leadership of the business himself.
Price started his career at Next before working for
M&S from 2005 to 2012. He was head of merchandise, before being
promoted to menswear trading director in 2008.
He left M&S to become managing director of department store
chain BHS and joined Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, in 2015,
growing F&F's annual revenue to over 1 billion pounds ($1.3
billion).
"I left the business because I felt it was drifting in the
wrong direction but now feel we have a real chance to make it
special again," said Price.
"The new team has already started to improve product and
value and I am looking forward to working with them.”
The job is one of the biggest in British retail.
In its 1990s heyday, M&S was the go-to British high street
destination for clothes, selling everything from party dresses
to suits and underwear.
In 1997, it became the first UK retailer to make an annual
profit of 1 billion pounds. But while the 135-year-old group
remains Britain's largest clothing retailer in sales terms, it
has been squeezed by the likes of Inditex's Zara, H&M, Primark
and the supermarkets' clothing businesses.
M&S said Price's start date "will be confirmed in due
course".
But it may have to wait if Tesco hold Price to the notice
period on his contract and place him on "gardening leave". Tesco
declined to comment.
In October last year, M&S recruited George Wright from Tesco
to be its new food commercial director but he did not start
until April this year.
McDonald departed M&S after less than two years in the job.
She was named as Costa Coffee's new CEO on Wednesday.
($1 = 0.7786 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey and Costas Pitas; Editing by Kate
Holton and Mark Potter)
