Marks & Spencer announces yet another departure

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Published
Mar 14, 2012

One of Marks & Spencer’s longest-serving clothing directors has left the company. After 28 years of working for M&S, Andrew Skinner has joined the list of directors which have left the British retailer over the last few weeks.

Skinner, the right-hand man of head of clothing Kate Bostock, has quit Marks & Spencer in order to pursue new challenges. He will be replaced by Sachat Berendji, who prior to this was the executive assistant to former chief executive Stuart Rose, and then to current chief executive Marc Bolland.

This announcement comes not long after the departure of David Michels from the M&S Board, where he had been serving as senior independent director since 2006. Michels has been succeeded by Jan de Plessis. A few days before, it was Susan Aubrey-Cound, the retailer’s director of new channel, who also announced her exit. And this was shortly after Alison Jones had stepped down from her position as brand director for general merchandising.

On April 17, Marks & Spencer will announce its third quarter results, ending on March 31.

For its first quarter, the UK retailer saw a 2.4% increase in sales to 4.7 billion pounds. In fiscal year 2010/2011, Marks & Spencer had a total turnover of 9.7 billion pounds (+4.2%), of which 1 billion came from international sales. Last year also saw the British retailer’s return to France, ten years after its departure from the country.