Sir Stuart Rose: ‘I don’t believe in retirement’

Rose, who revealed on Wednesday that he would be succeeded in the post at Marks & Spencer by Morrisons chief executive Marc Bolland, said, however, that he has no intention of disappearing entirely.

“This is my 39th Christmas in retail,” he said. “I don’t believe in retirement. I do need to work.”

Despite standing down on a date to be decided in the new year, Rose has not quite finished his work at M&S. After Bolland joins, Rose will shift to three days a week at the retailer and, after a handover period likely to last five or six weeks, he will continue as chairman before eventually standing down by July 2011. “My job is to get him saddled up and up to speed,” said Rose.

The handing on of the baton will end Rose’s reign as leader, which began in 2004 after the former staffer was drafted in to defend M&S against a bid from Sir Philip Green.

His return was greeted rapturously by shareholders who regarded Rose as a “king over the water” whose return would restore the legendary retailer to former glories.

For a while all went according to plan as Rose refocused M&S around its traditional values such as quality, value and service, and launched eye-catching initiatives such as the Plan A sustainability programme. Once again, M&S managed to turn a £1bn profit.

But as trading started to go off the boil and recessionary trading conditions hit, murmurings against him began to take hold in the City. His promotion to the role of executive chairman last year prompted a breakdown in relations with important investors but Rose always insisted it was the right thing to do – “an extraordinary measure in extraordinary times”.

On Wednesday, Rose stood by his record. “When I came back to the business it was in disarray, morale was at the bottom of the scale and customers thought we’d lost the plot,” he said, contrasting the situation then with now.

Despite setbacks and the impact of recession he was pleased with progress. “You do what you have to do in the time you get given to do it,” Rose said. “We’ve done most things right and a few things wrong.”

Soon it will be up to Bolland to decide what is right and wrong for M&S. As for Rose? He said: “People will know now I’ll have time on my hands. I might be inundated tomorrow morning.”