Industry | 2009.11.18
High-flying Dutchman gets top M&S job
• Morrisons chief replaces Rose in high-profile post
• Shares climb to 17-month high on back of decision
M&S made a splash today with the announcement that the biggest job in British shopkeeping has gone to Marc Bolland, the high-flying Dutchman who brought mass appeal to the northern supermarket chain Morrisons.
The appointment of the understated Bolland, who prior to Morrisons spent nearly 20 years as a marketer at Heineken, ushers in a new era for M&S, which has been trailing behind in an age of global retail brands.
M&S\'s current boss, the outspoken Sir Stuart Rose, described Bolland\'s appointment as a "win, win, win" for the company. "We don\'t live in a national world anymore, we live in a global environment and need a chief executive with an international perspective," said Rose.
Bolland has a big act to follow. In five years at the helm, Rose has become a celebrity: a regular on the London party circuit – earlier this year he was snapped leaving Mayfair nightclub Annabel\'s in the early hours with the billionaire Sir Philip Green and the model Kate Moss – and at ease schmoozing models at London Fashion Week as pleasing City types and older shoppers in his stores.
But his media profile aside, Rose has been persona non grata with investors for the past 18 months after breaking City rules by taking on the dual role of executive chairman.
After pressure from shareholders, M&S stepped up its search for a chief executive and for the past three months has been running the City\'s equivalent of the X Factor to find its new leader. Rose encouraged other senior executives such as clothing boss Kate Bostock and finance director Ian Dyson to compete for the title.
But in the end the internal candidates fell away and Bolland, who has transformed Morrisons into a grocer the middle classes aren\'t afraid to shop at, was judged the "best candidate" to take the top job.
The hiring of Bolland signalled the outbreak of peace with the City today as Rose reported a flurry of texts and emails from happy investors. M&S shares climbed nearly 6% to a 17-month high, but Morrisons sank by almost as much as shareholders digested life without the Dutchman who has nursed the retailer back to health after its botched takeover of rival Safeway.
Little known outside the business press, Bolland joined Heineken as a management trainee and rose to become chief operating officer, before jumping ship to Morrisons in 2006. Over the past three years he has reinvented the Bradford-based grocer. It had always been a roaring success in its northern heartland with its "pile it high, sell it cheap" philosophy, but the national scale brought by the Safeway deal meant it had to move upmarket and recast itself to compete with mainstream rivals such as Tesco and Sainsbury\'s.
"Being CEO of M&S is the job in UK retail," said one large investor in Morrisons. "It\'s a bit like being asked to be England football manager isn\'t it? You don\'t turn it down."
Bolland has the expertise in food retailing but some analysts fretted about his lack of experience running a clothing business – M&S is the UK\'s largest. However, Rose countered that the strength of the supporting management team meant it was not necessary for Bolland to know whether it needed to buy "pink, yellow or green dresses" that year.
Just a few weeks ago Bolland was playing down the appeal of the M&S job to a "foreigner" who did not understand this national obsession with a business that is smaller than the one he currently runs.
But today he said: "M&S is one of the world\'s great brands and I am very pleased to be given the opportunity to lead the company forward at this exciting stage." He is said to be attracted by the opportunity to take M&S abroad and adapt to the challenge posed by e-commerce.
Bolland, who was born in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands and is the son of a factory worker, says he is not driven by money – he does not claim expenses as he thinks he earns enough not to bill the company for taxi rides. However, his head is likely to have been turned by the "competitive" package on the table at M&S. Last year Bolland earned £1.7m – although he has £4m worth of shares to his name – to Rose\'s £2.9m.
His remuneration details will not be made public until he takes over in the new year.
Bolland\'s mild temper and collegiate style will help smooth ruffled feathers at M&S\'s head office in Paddington, west London – although Rose claims there were no diva antics from the rejected candidates, who he claims all plan to stay on. Bolland may be a team player – he is a football fanatic – but some might argue that despite driving an Aston Martin he has less panache than Rose, who pilots his own plane and frequently dines at the Ivy. When out in the field the Dutchman is known to treat staff to a bucket of KFC and a big bottle of pop.
After the pillorying he received for taking on the executive chairman role, as well as last year\'s poor results. Rose says he never wants to be a retail chief executive again and will cut back to three days after a short handover to Bolland.
"I\'ve got one more job to do which is to get Marc saddled up and depart gracefully. I want to go to more parties as I\'ve had to miss out over the last few years," he said.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/[...]olland-marks-and-spencer-chief
