Marks and Spencer CEO Marc Bolland announces resignation after drop in sales

Marc Bolland will step down as Chief Executive for Marks and Spencer following poor merchandise sales in the third-quarter of 2015. The merchandise sales were down by 5.8% in the 13 weeks leading up to 26 December, the BBC reports.

Despite that, the Chairman at the company, Robert Swannell, told reporters that there had been no pressure from the Board or the shareholders to prompt the CEO to leave.

Bolland will bow out in April after leading Marks and Spencer for six years. He had informed the Board about his intentions to step down last summer. Bolland will be succeeded by Steve Rowe, Marks and Spencer’s Executive Director of General Merchandise.

Bolland said it had been “a huge honour to lead one of Britain's most iconic companies”, the Daily Record reports.