Marks & Spencer CFO Singer to Step Down Amid Retailer Revamp

(Bloomberg) -- Marks and Spencer Group Plc Chief Financial Officer Humphrey Singer plans to leave his post and the U.K. retailer is searching for his successor.

Singer’s departure date hasn’t yet been decided and he’s working with Chief Executive Officer Steve Rowe to ensure a smooth transition, the company said Saturday in a statement.

“After 18 months of working with Steve to lead the transformation strategy and rebuild the finance function I have decided that now is the right time to move on,” Singer said in the statement.

The departure marks the latest twist in what has been a roller coaster few months for the retailer. This month the company was demoted from the FTSE 100 index for the first time, following a mixed reception to its plans to finance a joint venture with Ocado Group Plc via a rights offering and dividend cut.

Its shares have fallen more than 30% since the tie-up was announced in February.

Challenging Turnaround

Singer has decided it was a natural time for him to move on with details of the Ocado financing now wrapped up. He called the company’s turnaround “challenging but hugely rewarding.”

The milestone deal with Ocado to deliver grocery orders in the U.K. was viewed as a way to help bolster M&S’s key food business. But investors haven’t shared this optimism, fearing another costly store revamp as profit falls.

At the company’s full-year results in May, CEO Rowe said M&S had “not been consistent in its delivery in a number of areas of the business,” and it expected trading for the year to be second-half weighted as its transformation efforts continue.

M&S expects to close around 25 Simply Food stores, as well as a further 85 full-line stores, and forecasts that net store closures will reduce sales in its food business by around 1% for the new financial year.

Singer will stay in place until a successor is found, with an orderly handover a key focus for the company as it looks to navigate the retail industry’s choppy waters at a time when Brexit is weighing on U.K. consumer confidence.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rebecca Smith in London at rsmith599@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sunil Kesur at skesur@bloomberg.net, Charles Daly, Sara Marley

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