Marks & Spencer has announced the shock capture of Marc Bolland as its new chief executive.

The highly rated Morrisons boss will join M&S next year, taking over the reins from Sir Stuart Rose.

“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,” Bolland said. “I am greatly looking forward to working closely with Stuart and the M&S team.”

Sir Stuart added: “[Bolland] brings a wealth of consumer marketing experience and has made a great success of his time at Morrisons. We very much look forward to welcoming him and working together.”

The appointment brings to an end months of speculation over Sir Stuart’s successor, with Asda boss Andy Bond and Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King among those previously linked with the role. Internal candidates had included head of food John Dixon, finance director Ian Dyson and general merchandise chief Kate Bostock.

Sir Stuart will continue as chairman for an interim period before leaving M&S in 2011.

Bolland has been credited with reviving the fortunes of Morrisons, which has broken out beyond its heartlands in the north of England to emerge as one of the recession’s big winners. Before joining the retailer, Bolland was chief operating officer at Dutch drinks giant Heineken.

Read more
How M&S will bring order to the chaos of its supply system (31 October 2009)
M&S food boss John Dixon joins board (12 September 2009)
Bolland lays out plans to keep Morrisons growing (12 September 2009)
M&S finally set to start hunt for Rose successor (2 September 2009)

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