George Davies is stepping down as chairman of Per Una – the phenomenally successful fashion brand that he created for Marks & Spencer (M&S). Britain’s biggest clothing retailer said that Mr Davies, 67, would be relinquishing his part-time role at the end of the year.

Melanie Davies, the design guru’s daughter, who is the business unit director of Per Una, is also leaving. Emma Trayner, her sister, quit as part-time design director at Per Una three months ago.

News of the Liverpool-born Mr Davies’s departure comes weeks after he was linked with a job at Lovesexmoney.com, the Italian fashion brand. It also comes three years after he famously walked out of M&S following a row over money with Sir Stuart Rose, M&S’s chief executive.

M&S insisted last night that there had been no dispute this time and that the departure of Mr Davies, who has a reputation for being headstrong, had been amicable. Sir Stuart told The Times: “It’s warm handshakes all round. We’ve been talking to him for weeks about it. George has done a fantastic job in establishing Per Una and building it into a significant brand. We are immensely grateful to him for all he has done for M&S and wish him well for the future.”

Sir Stuart also played down speculation that Mr Davies might set up a new rival brand, “Quite frankly, I wouldn’t mind if he did,” he said. “If he has the ambition, the balls and the energy to go and do that, in the current business environment, then I wish him the very best of luck. I wouldn’t do it.”

The departure of Mr Davies who, in a dazzling career, also founded the hugely successful Next and George at Asda brands, will be seen as another symbolic blow for M&S. The company recently reported a 34 per cent fall in half-year pretax profits to £297.8 million and gave warning that it was expecting a tough Christmas.

Mr Davies, the son of a Liverpool sausage maker, launched his first Per Una range for M&S in 2001. At that time he owned the business outright, simply acting as a supplier to M&S. In 2004 he sold Per Una to M&S for £125 million. Per Una enjoyed annual sales of about £430 million last year and accounts for a quarter of M&S’s womenswear sales.

Most analysts said that the departure of Ferrari and Maserati-driving Mr Davies would not be the hammer blow to M&S that it would have been three years ago.

With the departure of Ms Davies – said to have “come as a pair” with her father – M&S said that Andrew Skinner, the director of M&S’s supply chain, would assume responsibility for Per Una. He will report to Kate Bos-tock, the retailer’s director of women’s and girls’ wear, while Helen Low, womenswear head of design for casual-wear, becomes Per Una’s product and design director. M&S shares closed down 4¼p at 211¼p.

- M&S is preparing to launch a one-day sale tomorrow in a move that highlights the retailer’s anxiety over falling consumer spending before Christmas. The sale is understood to be an offer of 20 per cent off general merchandise. Debenhams begins a three-day promotion today, promising more than £200 million of price cuts.

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