Can Steve Rowe save M&S fashion?

When Marks & Spencer chief executive Marc Bolland steps down in April, following a noticeable drop in sales, his successor Steve Rowe will face a formidable challenge. Can M&S’s current executive director of general merchandise turn things round?

Steve Rowe’s fashion credentials are strong. He began his career as a 15-year-old Saturday boy in the men’s knitwear department of M&S in Croydon, and after leaving school worked at Topshop for four years before rejoining the company. This gives him a connection that Marc Bolland, who joined M&S from Morrison and Heineken, did not have.