Marks and Spencer clothing boss John Dixon quits

Marks & Spencer’s dropped 1.3 percent, the top faller in percentage terms, after Britain’s biggest clothing retailer announced that John Dixon, the head of its non-food division, has resigned to become chief executive of another firm.

Dixon will leave the FTSE 100-listed retailer’s board with immediate effect and will leave the company on a date to be agreed.

Focus has been placed on three internal candidates: Steve Rowe, the former head of food who has now taken over the clothing division from Dixon; Helen Weir, the new finance director; and Laura Wade-Gery, the head of the retailer’s multi-channel strategy.

Rowe is no newcomer to general merchandise; as an 18-year-old he started out at fashion chain Topshop and his M&S career has included stints in menswear, homeware, beauty and e-commerce. So the news that John Dixon, the executive director of the general merchandise division (which includes clothes), has finally given up the ghost isn’t exactly surprising.

Independent retail analyst Nick Bubb said: “I think the odds have just lengthened”.

Jonathan De Mello, the head of retail consultancy at Harper Dennis Hobbs, said there was still a lot of confusion among shoppers about who M&S’ clothes were aimed at, with too many lines and different product categories.

In his current role as Executive Director, Food, Steve has been instrumental in ensuring that M&S has maintained its specialist positioning and continued to outperform in a challenging market. The poor performance has heaped pressure on CEO Bolland, with 6 percent of shareholders opposing his re-election at this month’s annual general meeting.

Mr Dixon had been regarded as a contender to replace chief executive Marc Bolland.

Marks & Spencer can hopefully avoid the “uncertainty and strategic hiatus” that usually follows management changes, analysts have suggested.

Analysts at Jefferies said: “This is a blow to M&S but with Steve Rowe stepping into Dixon’s shoes, we believe the M&S recovery can continue relatively unscathed”. In its first quarter trading update earlier this month, the company posted a fall in like-for-like sales in General Merchandise of 0.4%, a disappointing result for the company given the like-for-like growth seen in the fourth quarter of its 2015 financial year.