They came, they ate his sandwiches and they voted for him.
From the suburbs and the shires, in suits and ties and sensible frocks, about 2,000 M&S shareholders pitched up to London’s Royal Festival Hall today for what had been billed as one of the business showdowns of the year.
It was make or break for Sir Stuart Rose, who last addressed an M&S AGM in the Festival Hall in 2004, when he was the beau of the ball having seen off Sir Philip green’s attempt to wrest control of business.
This time, Rose potentially faced shareholder fury after a profit warning, the ousting of food boss Steven Esom and a long-running wrangle over corporate governance.
In the event, the atmosphere in the hall was less charged than might have been expected from the press coverage in the lead-up. Investors took to the floor to complain about the plastic bag charge, not being able to find clothing in their sizes and even why there were no Indians on the store group’s board.
But there was little about the rights and wrongs of Rose’s elevation to executive chairman, and much of what was said was supportive.
In the end, Rose won the backing of 94.1 per cent of those voting at the meeting, although an abstention rate of about 16 per cent indicated that institutional investors had stuck to their guns to make clear their concerns on corporate governance.
As you’d expect, Rose gave little ground and insisted he would not stick around for ever. “Be clear, when my job is done I will go,” he told the meeting.
Deputy chairman Sir David Michels was also resolute that the right decision had been made. He said Rose had been “the leading architect of the company’s revival” and that “in uncertain economic times, continuity becomes more important.” He argued that Rose would develop and mature M&S’s internal talent.
That talent includes potential successors Ian Dyson and Kate Bostock. Dyson was sitting immediately to the left of Rose, Bostock right at the end of the table. Was there any message in the seating arrangements about which of the pair might have the nose on the other?
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