Asda has appointed two former Marks & Spencer executives to take up senior roles at its George clothing range.

Arman Djemil and Steve Jackson joined the Wal-Mart-owned retailer in its boyswear and menswear deaprtments in recent weeks and are understood to have left M&S earlier this year.

The head of George at Asda, Anthony Thompson, is a former director of M&S and has bolstered his team with colleagues from Gap, Next and Sainsbury’s, as well as M&S.

Today M&S revealed that adjusted pre-tax profits in the year to March 28 fell from £604.4m from £1bn the year before.