A reshuffle of Marks & Spencer’s top team has eased the pressure on chief executive Marc Bolland despite more sales woe today.
Mr Bolland sprung a surprise in the City by appointing former Debenhams and Jaeger chief executive Belinda Earl as style director and announcing the departure of clothing head Kate Bostock.
The changes offset a 6.8% decline in clothing and general merchandise sales in the 13 weeks to June 30 - the worst since December 2008 - and helped shares rise 1% or 4p to 325p in a session when the FTSE 100 Index was 3.5 points higher at 5630.8.
The mood was helped by the decision of eurozone finance ministers to lend Spain’s banks 30 billion euros (£24 billion) as part of the first tranche of a bailout of up to 100 billion euros agreed in June.
They will also extend the deadline for Spain to cut its budget deficit to the EU limit of 3% by one year, helping keep the country’s borrowing costs at just below 7% today.
In contrast to M&S’s trading difficulties, online retailer ASOS saw shares jump more than 10% - up 168p to 1812p - after reporting an 8% rise in UK sales. Analysts said the figures were much better than expected.
