Former Marks & Spencer designer Yasmin Yusuf was today unveiled as the new chief executive of high street fashion chain East.

Speculation was mounting today that troubled retailer Marks & Spencer would offer investors less for their shares than the £4 (€5.89) promised by billionaire Philip Green in his takeover bid.

Interest rates dominated the thinking of investors on both sides of the Atlantic today as London shares spent a second day in the red.

The designer brought in to add sparkle to women’s clothing at Marks & Spencer is to leave the retailer after three and a half years, it emerged today.

Marks & Spencer may have finally shrugged off its image for dowdy clothes after items from the latest collection made it into the pages of high fashion bible Vogue, it emerged today.