A company ‘improved but in turmoil’

For months — years even — the City has been trying to guess who would replace Sir Stuart Rose at M&S. At the helm since 2004, some had begun to say that Rose, by turning his position into an all-powerful chief executive and chairman role, had got ahead of himself and needed to step back.

He said he would find a successor and leave by July 2011. The truth is now out: he'll be a part-time chairman by January, and, in all likelihood, gone altogether well before the summer of 2011.

Was his reign a success? Critics say that M&S turning to an external candidate rather than one of Rose's underlings show that his revolution was far from victorious.

Friends say he breathed life back into a company that may have been in terminal decline when he arrived to fend off a bid from his good friend Sir Philip Green.

Rose may have to accept that he leaves with his work far from complete. His legacy is that M&S is an improved company which remains in considerable turmoil.

Marc Bolland said he was delighted to be asked to join M&S but may come to regret taking the job. He is about to discover the scrutiny that comes with heading a company treated by its customers as an errant family member — loved but constantly criticised.

As for Morrisons, it too is looking for a new boss from a shrinking pool of executive talent. The merry-go-round is spinning fast.