Blow to Marks & Spencer as top executive joins AB Foods

Bloomberg

A top management executive from Marks & Spencer Group Plc is leaving to take a finance role at Associated British Foods Plc, the owner of clothing chain Primark.
Eoin Tonge, currently chief financial and strategy officer at M&S, will replace John Bason who will be retiring as finance director, AB Foods said in a statement. Bason, who has worked at AB Foods for 23 years, will become chairman of a newly constituted strategic advisory board and a senior adviser to Primark.
The move is a blow to M&S as Tonge was given an enlarged role only a few weeks ago and billed a key part of a top management team of three charged with running M&S following the departure of Steve Rowe. Tonge was named chief strategy officer, in addition to his finance role, alongside co-chief executives Stuart Machin and Katie Bickerstaffe, who only works four days a week.
M&S stock was down about 2% in London. AB Foods stock was up more than 1%.
M&S also announced that it’s buying logistics provider Gist Ltd for an initial cash consideration of £145 million ($173 million). Gist is the main logistics provider to M&S Food with 18 distribution centers across the UK and Ireland and the acquisition is part of M&S modernizing its food supply chain network.
Last month the retailer named Alex Freudmann to replace Machin as managing director of food starting in November. Freudmann is currently managing director at Australian alcohol retailer Dan Murphy’s.
On Tonge’s departure from M&S, he said he was leaving as “opportunity has knocked for me to take on a new financial role across a diverse portfolio of businesses.”
“News of Mr Tonge’s departure from M&S comes as a surprise to the company, to us, and no doubt to its shareholders too,” said Clive Black, a retail analyst at Shore Capital, a house broker to M&S.
Black said Tonge had performed well in just over two years at M&S and had materially enhanced the liquidity and solvency of the group.