Marks & Spencer’s chairman will stay on for an extra three years as the company bounces back from a devastating cyber attack.
The high street retailer said it has decided to extend Archie Norman’s tenure beyond the typical nine years for company chairmen, as long as shareholders back the move.
Norman, 71, who became chairman in 2017, has been hailed alongside chief executive Stuart Machin for his part in reviving M&S.
The pair have boosted the fortunes of the business after its share price slumped and its clothes were derided as dowdy.
His term will be extended for three years from September 2026 but this will be reviewed every year.
Shareholders will be able to vote on the move to retain Norman (pictured)at the group’s annual general meeting next year.
Staying put: Archie Norman, who took over as chairman in 2017, has been hailed alongside chief executive Stuart Machin for his part in reviving M&S
A spokesman for the retailer said: ‘M&S is a rapidly changing business with a recently strengthened executive team but there is a long way to go in delivering the “Reshaping for Growth” strategy and the company will benefit from the continued strong leadership and stability Archie’s chairmanship will bring.’
The group is recovering after a hack over Easter forced it to halt website and app orders while its food stocking systems were thrown into chaos.
The personal data of millions of customers, which could have included names, email addresses, postal addresses and dates of birth, was stolen.
Clive Black, research analyst at broker Shore Capital, said: ‘We could see no benefit in his stepping down in mid-2026 just to tick a box when he clearly has so much still to offer the firm.’
But Stuart Parkinson, chief economist at Retail Economics, said the news raised the question as to whether the board had ‘made themselves rather reliant on Archie Norman’.
Shares are almost a third higher than in September 2017, when Norman started in the job.
They gained 0.6 per cent, or 2.2p, to 398.8p yesterday.
Shortly after joining, he warned the firm was ‘on a burning platform’ and that ‘in decades to come there will be no M&S’ unless changes were made.
Norman was chief executive and later chairman of Asda from 1991 until 1999 and he is credited with rescuing the supermarket before its sale to US giant Walmart.
DIY INVESTING PLATFORMS
AJ Bell
AJ Bell
Easy investing and ready-made portfolios
Hargreaves Lansdown
Hargreaves Lansdown
Free fund dealing and investment ideas
interactive investor
interactive investor
Flat-fee investing from £4.99 per month
InvestEngine
InvestEngine
Account and trading fee-free ETF investing
Trading 212
Trading 212
Free share dealing and no account fee
Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .