Senior executive quits troubled M&S

A key lieutenant of Marks & Spencer boss Stuart Rose is quitting the struggling retailer to join cash-and-carry chain Booker, it was confirmed today.

Charles Wilson, who joined M&S in May last year, will leave at the end of October to become chief executive of Booker.

The company said Mr Wilson would not be replaced and that his roles and responsibilities would be redistributed “in due course”.

Mr Wilson, who has a long history of working alongside Mr Rose, was brought in to tackle costs as part of the wider battle to revive Marks & Spencer following the failed takeover attempt by tycoon Philip Green.

As executive director for IT, logistics and property, Mr Wilson is believed to feel that his job is done at M&S, having delivered £250m (€363.1m) of savings in this financial year, as well as an overhaul of the supply chain.

However, sales have continued to struggle, with M&S last week reporting its seventh consecutive quarter of negative sales.

The firm said in a statement today: “Charles joined M&S to do a specific job, namely to help focus the business and to deliver cash and cost improvements. He has delivered these and helped build a solid foundation for the company to go forward.”

Mr Wilson knows Booker well, as he had senior roles there between 1998 and 2001. He then worked alongside Mr Rose as an executive director at fashion chain Arcadia, a business that was later acquired by Mr Green.

M&S has one other executive director on its board – the recently-appointed finance chief Ian Dyson. Mr Wilson will leave M&S on October 28, giving Mr Dyson time to settle in.