Stuart Rose seemed demob happy at today’s M&S results presentation.

Stuart Rose’s quick wit always makes the M&S results presentation worth going along to, and today’s was more good-natured than usual, probably because it was Stuart’s last set of full year results. He shared the podium with Ian Dyson, who is also on his way out, while new CEO Marc Bolland said a few brief words of introduction and then took a seat in the front row alongside marketing director Steve Sharp and food boss John Dixon - general merchandise queen Kate Bostock was incapacitated with a broken leg sustained in a parachute jump.

It was a decent set of results, with good market share gains in fashion and a return to like for like growth in food, although there remains much to be done there. There were no big revelations in the presentation, but Rose doesn’t think a double dip recession is on the way, and wants more warning this time if VAT is going up. He staunchly defended his reign, saying he was proud that M&S hadn’t gone private in 2004 and that it wouldn’t be the same business today if it had.

At the end everyone crowded round Bolland who is probably the most assured person ever when it comes to refusing to say anything. Having confirmed he was wearing an M&S suit he was asked by a bloke from the Daily Mail if he was wearing one of its shirts too, to which he replied “Would you like to know where my underpants are from as well?” When another hack asked if his induction had helped turn him into a fashion expert, he replied: “Enough of one to see your tie is not straight,” before doing the honours and straightening it. Bolland said he’d been into M&S stores every day, including weekends, since joining - sometimes incognito, sometimes not.

Being M&S boss must be weird - there’s no other job in retail where your choice of shirts, nightclub or companions attracts anything like the same interest. Rose has loved all that and he seemed in a great mood today, but also nostalgic and I’m sure he’s going to miss the job. Bolland is one of the few other people with the charm and self-assurance to manage the role’s unique demands.

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