Marks & Spencer Cuts Board in Half

Marks & Spencer Group p.l.c. (London), British department store chain, has announced that six top executives will leave the company as it reported plummeting profits and a dip in sales in its home market in the latest six-month period.

Alison Reed, Marks & Spencer’s current finance director, will step down after 20 years at the company. Maurice Helfgott, head of men’s wear, children’s wear and home furnishing; Mark McKeon, head of international and franchises; and Laurel Powers-Freeling, head of the finance arm, are also leaving the board and the company.

Other company departures include the directors of human resources, Jean Tomlin, and of home products, Jack Paterson.

Stuart Rose, the ceo recruited in May to help the company fend off a hostile takeover, has been critical of the business’s structure and negative about Marks & Spencer’s short-term outlook. The company needs “quicker and more efficient decision making, more accountability and quicker execution,” he said during a recent presentation to analysts. To that end, the company’s six-member board is being pared to three: Rose; Charles Wilson (whom Rose brought in this year to run the supply chain business); and a new finance director.

For the six months ended in September, Marks & Spencer’s net income was down 40 percent; retail sales in Britain fell 0.4 percent (and rivals, such as Next and Tesco, won market share with cheaper or more fashionable products); and the company reported large charges to close its home stores and defend itself from this summer’s hostile takeover attempt.