A retail bellwether hovering around the £1 billion profit mark; an executive chairman almost synonymous with the business itself; signs of deteriorating trading and a clutch of directors eager to move into the top job. Sound familiar?

It was Marks & Spencer a decade ago, as the stores giant teetered. Then, the executive chairman was Sir Richard Greenbury. In June, chief executive Sir Stuart Rose will take up the same position.

There are, of course, enormous differences between the two situations. Rose has won applause for his turnaround of M&S and, even though Christmas trading was a shock, few would seriously question that he has all but restored M&S’s fortunes.

But Rose’s imminent move has raised eyebrows. M&S’s rationale is that it secures Rose’s services for another two years after his contract expires in 2009 – good news.

It also signals that he will not remain at the business for ever, so an opportunity has been created for other directors to show their mettle and be in with a chance to succeed him as chief executive.

But what has not been satisfactorily answered is why Rose must become executive chairman for those things to happen. While he has barely put a foot wrong since parachuting in back in 2004, Rose’s combined role has prompted concern about overcentralisation of power and potential over-reliance on a single person. Speculation that the relationship between Rose and departing chairman Lord Burns was pretty testy doesn’t help.

But many might argue that Rose has shown himself so capable that such concerns are nit-picking. As trading conditions toughen, Rose’s deft touch will be needed all the more.

Perhaps of more concern is whether firing the starting gun so publicly on the succession race will prompt internal jostling for position and undermine the business, as happened in M&S’s dark days of the late 1990s.

The biggest surprise is that Rose, the best communicator in the business, has created a mood of uncertainty among important investors who have publicly questioned the proposed changes.

Despite the anger of the corporate governance police, the real issue is whether this week’s announcement is ultimately good news for M&S and its shareholders. That remains unknown, but there has just been a very high-stakes roll of the dice.

George MacDonald is deputy editor of Retail Week

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