Marc Bolland appointed M&S chief executive

Marks & Spencer today surprised the retail world by going over the heads of three in-house candidates to appoint a big name outsider as their next chief executive to replace Sir Stuart Rose.

He is Marc Bolland, the Dutch-born chief executive of Morrisons, who is widely credited with turning around the fortunes of the Bradford-based supermarket chain since he took it over in 2006.

Bolland (pictured above in 2006 when he was chief operating officer of Heineken) will take up the post early next year at a date to be confirmed, M&S announced this morning. Rose will stay on as part-time chairman to "ensure a smooth transition". Rose has previously said he plans to leave M&S by July 2011.

The appointment ends a long-running saga at M&S, where Rose came under fire from shareholders after he became chairman as well as chief executive in June 2008. Critics said the joint role broke corporate governance roles, as well as giving one person too much power.

Today Rose said he was "delighted" at the appointment, adding that Bolland would bring "a wealth of consumer marketing experience" to M&S. Shares in M&S rose five per cent on the news, while Morrisons' stock dropped five per cent at one stage today.

The disappointed internal candidates are clothing and homeware chief Kate Bostock, head of food John Dixon and finance director Ian Dyson.

Sam Hart, a broker at Charles Stanley, told the BBC that he had expected Dyson to be appointed chief executive. "It's a big shock. Mr Bolland has an extremely good track record at Morrisons... It's definitely a good appointment in our view, but certainly a surprise."

The Wall Street Journal's London correspondent Lauren Mills said Bolland was the right person for the job. "Bolland has done a remarkable job at Morrisons. He's revived the chain, despite the difficulties of integrating Safeway, into a serious contender as a supermarket titan [and] he has oodles of marketing experience, is cool-headed and respected in the City."

Bolland's food expertise would doubtless help M&S improve its food offering, which accounts for about half the chain's business, Mills added.

Described in a 2007 profile as a "1950s movie-star look-alike", Bolland, 50, began his career working for Heineken in the Congo and Slovakia as well as at the brewery's headquarters in Holland where he became chief operating officer. He moved to Britain three years ago to sort out Morrisons following the supermarket chain's high-profile acquisition of Safeway in 2004.

A Leeds United supporter since he moved to Yorkshire in 2006, Bolland claims to enjoy living in Britain. "I like it here. We grew up with all the same TV programmes as you... Dad's Army, Coronation Street, Fawlty Towers. And both countries are lovers of football and surrounded by water, so there are many similarities." ·