Marks & Spencer (M&S) is parting company with Mr Vittorio Radice, the ex-Selfridges boss charged with reviving clothing sales, the retailer said yesterday as it continued to fend off a multi-billion pound bid by tycoon Mr Philip Green.
Mr Radice's departure was part of the management shake-up announced by new M&S boss Mr Stuart Rose, brought in just over a week ago after billionaire Mr Green set his sights on the group.
Britain's biggest clothing retailer has become vulnerable to a bid precisely because the firm has been losing out to fashion rivals such as Next and supermarkets like Asda, and analysts said Mr Radice's departure was a sign that Mr Rose was quickly getting to grips with the firm's key problem.
"Rose is moving pretty quickly, making all the right crowd-pleasing moves. I think it (Radice's departure) will please the institutions," said Mr Paul Kavanagh, head of market strategy at stockbrokers Killik.
Mr Green, whose empire spans Bhs department stores and Top Shop fashion chain owner Arcadia, said last week he was prepared to pay 290 to 310 pence a share in cash for M&S, plus a 25 per cent stake in a new M&S holding company.
M&S and leading shareholders have dismissed the approach.
Investors estimate the bid is worth as little as £7.5 billion (€11.2 billion) or about 330p a share, well short of the £9 billion, or 400p per share, they had been looking for.
Mr Radice, an Italian who also used to run the Habitat furniture chain, was hired from stylish department store Selfridges a year ago to revitalise M&S's homewares range. In March, he was promoted by then chief executive Mr Roger Holmes to the key clothing division job.
But analysts said his position was in doubt as soon as M&S brought in Mr Rose, who takes a close interest in clothes; he was the former head of Arcadia before its purchase by Mr Green.
"Vittorio's a bit of a main man in retailing. He's not an underling sort of person," said Mr Tony Shiret, retail analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston.
Mr Rose said Mr Radice was leaving by mutual consent, but conceded he was planning to trim the Italian's responsibilities and take a hands-on approach to clothing himself. "I would have narrowed his responsibilities if he stayed," he added.
M&S said Mr Maurice Helfgott, current head of the firm's upmarket food business but a long-time manager in its clothing division, would become head of menswear, childrenswear and home after Mr Radice's departure on June 11th.
- (Financial Times Service)
