Marks & Spencer finance director to step down

LONDON – Marks & Spencer says its chief financial officer is to step down, just weeks after the retailer learned it would drop out of the FTSE 100 of leading British shares for the first time.

In a statement Saturday, M&S said Humphrey Singer would remain in the job to ensure an orderly transition and the process of selecting his replacement was underway.

Singer, who joined M&S last year, said it was “the right time to move on.”

Chief Executive Steve Rowe said Singer “helped to establish the foundations of our transformation.”

Humphrey’s departure follows confirmation that M&S would leave the FTSE 100 for the first time since the index was created 35 years ago because of a sharp fall in its share price.

M&S’s move to the FTSE 250 takes effect Monday.