M&S targets former Next star to spearhead clothing revival

Marks & Spencer (Frankfurt: 534418 - news) (M&S) has approached the architect of Next (Frankfurt: 779551 - news) 's transformation into one of Britain's top fashion retailers about a key role at the helm of its perennially struggling clothing division.

Sky News has learnt that Christos Angelides is among a small number of candidates who are in the frame to join the top team at M&S under Steve Rowe, its chief executive.

Appointing Mr Angelides, who resigned from Next in 2014 to take on the ultimately unsuccessful challenge of turning around Abercrombie & Fitch (Frankfurt: 903016 - news) in the US, would be a coup for Mr Rowe.

Insiders said this weekend, however, that several other individuals were also being considered for the post, including Jo Jenkins, the highly regarded head of M&S's womenswear and beauty business.

Other external candidates have also been approached, and the chances of Mr Angelides striking a deal to take the role were unclear this weekend.

Since leaving Abercrombie & Fitch at the end of 2015, Mr Angelides has joined the board of struggling French Connection (LSE: FCCN.L - news) - a role he would be obliged to relinquish if he accepted the M&S job.

One factor potentially weighing against him joining M&S would be the seniority of the role being offered by Mr Rowe.

The former Next executive was a main board director there for more than a decade, and sources questioned whether Mr Rowe's expected decision not to have his clothing chief on M&S's board would allow him to attract a candidate of Mr Angelides' stature.

M&S has turned to former Next executives before to fill senior posts, most notably when it hired Mark and Neal Lindsey to spearhead improvements in the efficiency of its supply chain.

The brothers are expected to leave in the coming months after driving substantial cost savings for the business.

For the last decade, M&S and Next have been on largely opposing trajectories, with the former's clothing sales in apparently terminal decline.

January's Christmas trading updates told a different story, however, with Mr Rowe reversing a long streak of festive trading declines and outperforming City expectations.

By contrast, Next painted a gloomy prognosis for the high street in 2017, warning that profits would be impacted by a cocktail of factors including waning consumer confidence and higher costs prompted by the Apprenticeship Levy and National Living Wage.

M&S's recovery is far from assured, however, as Mr Rowe begins the process of closing dozens of clothing stores, and converting space in others to exploit its more successful food business.

M&S declined to comment on its search for a new clothing boss on Saturday (Shenzhen: 002291.SZ - news) .