22nd Nov 2019 13:55
(Alliance News) - High street stalwart Marks & Spencer PLC on Friday said it has named Richard Price as the managing director of its Clothing & Home unit as it looks to improve the fortunes of the struggling business.
Price will join next year and the FTSE 250 firm added it will confirm his start date in due course.
He is currently chief executive of F&F Clothing, Tesco PLC's fashion arm.
M&S Chief Executive Steve Rowe said: "Richard's career spans some of the UK's top clothing brands and he has a proven track record of delivering growth through stylish, great value product.
"We are building a team of world class talent in Clothing & Home and, with Richard coming on board, I am confident that the speed and scale of the transformation of the business will accelerate."
In October, M&S said the turnaround plan at the troubled Clothing & Home unit was "behind schedule".
At the firm's capital markets day, bosses at the high street giant expressed disappointment that significantly more action needs to take place in its long-suffering division to get it back on track.
Revenue in the unit fell by 7.8% to GBP1.57 billion in the six months to September 28, numbers showed, with like-for-like revenue down 5.5%.
Rowe said in October: "In Clothing & Home we are making up for lost time. We are still in the early stages, but we are clear on the issues we need to fix and, after a challenging first half, we are seeing a positive response to this season's contemporary styling and better value product."
In September, the company was relegated from London's FTSE 100 in an index re-jig. M&S was a founding member of the FTSE 100 and had a 35-year stay in the large-cap index before being booted out.
Shares in the company were 1.5% higher at 189.75 pence each in London on Friday afternoon.
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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