Sir Stuart Rose, executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, refused yesterday to back Sir David Michels as his successor.

Sir David, the deputy chairman, has said that he wants to run the company after Sir Stuart steps down next year.

Sir Stuart, under fire from institutional shareholders over his dual role of chairman and chief executive, said that a new chief executive would be appointed next year, after which he would become a nonexecutive chairman during a handover period.

But he failed to endorse Sir David’s bid to succeed him as chairman. Asked for his response to his colleague’s candidacy, Sir Stuart said: “I’m very comfortable. It’s a free world if he wishes to put forward his candidature.”

He rejected the idea that he should leave the company after stepping down as executive chairman, to allow the incoming chief executive a fresh start. Sir Stuart said: “That’s assuming he would be prejudiced negatively by my views . . . I will be staying on for an appropriate period of time to make sure that person is comfortable. I would hope that person does not feel I’m a negative influence. Maybe they might feel it’s a positive influence, maybe I can be of some help to them.”

M&S said that Sir Stuart’s comments reflected the fact that he would not play a role in the appointment of a new chairman. The warmest praise he gave the deputy chairman was referring to him as a “credible candidate”.

M&S yesterday reported a like-for-like sales decline of 1.4 per cent in the 13 weeks to June 27, slightly ahead of expectations. Sir Stuart said: “Last year we were literally falling down a slope and trying to stop ourselves before we got to the bottom. This year we have more stability.”

The shares closed up 11½p at 317½p.

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