M&S Money is a nest egg Rose is unlikely to touch

Rose's rescue plan for M&S is unlikely to involve cashing in the chips on financial services business M&S Money just yet.

The City has put a price tag of up to£855 million on the business, but an internal review conducted during Roger Holmes' reign concluded that it should be kept in-house.

The M&S Financial Services business, renamed Money last year, holds personal loans, insurance, savings and pension products in its purse and invested£60 million in the launch of credit card offering &More last year.

Money is one of M&S's best-performing divisions, but is yet to realise its full potential. It generated an operating profit of£86.4 million last year, and analysts predict it could double profits by 2007.

Money offers an attractive nest egg that could be spun off further down the line.