Shareholders at British food and clothing retailer Marks & Spencer PLC voted at the company's annual general meeting Wednesday to allow Stuart Rose to combine the roles of chairman and chief executive.
Almost 95 per cent of the shareholders who voted favored promoting Rose from chief executive to executive chairman and having him take on both roles.
Marks & Spencer has said the move will give Rose to groom a new chief executive to replace him by 2011, but some investors say the move concentrates too much power in one person.
Rose told shareholders at the meeting that he will be held to account for his actions by the company's non-executive directors, who oversee the company board.
Last week, Marks & Spencer reported its biggest drop in sales since 2005, and Rose told shareholders that Marks & Spencer results are often "an early warning system" for the state of the economy.
"It (Marks & Spencer) listens to its customers and they are saying their purses are pressed. They are saying the cost of living is going up faster than for a long time," he said.
