Marks & Spencer is headed for a battle with its investors on Wednesday after it emerged that the high-street retailer plans to ignore a big protest vote demanding the appointment of an independent chairman by July 2010 to check the power of boss Sir Stuart Rose.
It is understood that M&S plans to override shareholder concerns by insisting that a resolution put forward by the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) to end Rose's controversial tenure as chairman and chief executive is merely an “advisory” vote that does not need to be acted upon.
The group is bracing itself for up to half its shareholders either voting in favour of the resolution, or withholding their support through abstention.
