56 Saturday May 28 2022 | the times
Business
5
It has not been easy, but despite
culling 8,000 employees, halving
discounting and shutting high street
stores he has largely been able to bring
people on the journey with him. “I
think my history [with M&S] has been
important. I could say to them we’re
going to get the skeletons out of the
closet and I know where some of them
are — because I buried them.”
After all, while Rowe, 54, may have
polished up into a leader who pensnewspaper opinion pieces on the
country’s tax regime, he used to be
known as a rough-and-ready retailer
who leaned into his hardened Millwall
fan reputation when it was necessary.
During Stuart Rose’s era as chief execu-
tive, Rowe was known as “the rottweil-
er” and was sent into places “that
needed sorting”.
Having a long memory of M&S’s
self-inflicted problems meant that
Rowe arrived in the top role very clearSteve Rowe is
proudest of his
efforts in sorting
out the online
business and
striking a
£750 million
venture with
OcadoToyota yesterday cut its global produc-
tion plan for June for the second time
this week and indicated that its estimat-
ed full-year output could be lowered.
Production by carmakers worldwide
has been hit by a shortage of micro-
chips caused by pressures in the supply
chain and ongoing coronavirus lock-
downs in China.
The reduction by Toyota Motor,
which is widely regarded as a
bellwether for the health of Japan’s eco-
nomy, comes two days after data
showed that car sales in China, Europe
and the United States remained weak.
Toyota, which was founded in 1933,
will introduce rolling pauses on 16
production lines across ten plants in
Japan as it faces shortages in the supply
of parts from a locked-down Shanghai.
Japan’s largest vehicle manufacturer
said it expected to produce 50,000 few-
er cars in June, for a total of about800,000. It had already cut its plan for
next month by 100,000 vehicles on
Tuesday, citing the chip shortage.
Although Toyota has removed
150,000 vehicles from its June esti-
mates, it still expects to produce 9.7 mil-
lion cars worldwide this financial year.Rottweiler Rowe bows out,
Losing its sparkle
Share price2000 2005 2010 2015 2020700p6005004003002001000Share price
7 6 5 4 3 2 1Pre-tax profit2000 2005 2010 2015 2020£1.2bn£1bn800m6004002000-200-400£ £ 8 6 4 2 0 -Source: RefinitivSteve Rowe
became bossSteve Rowe
became bossAs far as savouring last days go, Steve
Rowe squeezed out every drop of his.
After weeks of farewell dinners and
board meetings, the Marks & Spencer
boss followed up results presentations
with a town hall gathering that
included a dance routine to Puff Dad-
dy’s I’ll Be Missing You by members of
the Romford branch, who have become
TikTok sensations.
Rowe’s departure after 39 years at
M&S has led to an unusual outpouring
of affection for a chief executive, caus-
ing him to squirm and revel in equal
measure about the support from his
colleagues.
“I’m a fairly straight-talking guy, I’m
not used to people being nice to me,” he
said in his last ever interview as chief
executive of Marks & Spencer.
The finality marks the end of a career
he started as a 15-year-old boy in
Croydon, albeit one that has seen him
work in every division of M&S, for six
chairmen — and on just as many
flawed turnaround strategies.
The company lifer followed his
father, Joe Rowe, into the business and
he even met his second wife, Jo, at M&S.
“Outside of the founding family, my
dad and me are the only two members
of the same family to have ever sat on
the board.”
But if Rowe’s entire career ambition
was to climb to the top of M&S, it begs
the question about how lost he will be
when it comes to an end, when his
driver Phil is no longer waiting outside
his house at 6.30am. He snorts about
being bereft. “Nah, I’m going to be pres-
ident of the alumni association, I’ll still
be a shopper, I’m keeping my shares
and I’ll be around to make sure the cor-
porate memory is strong. But I’m not
going to interfere.”
When he took over from Marc
Bolland in 2016 he told the City his first
priority was “putting out fires”. Inves-
tors sneered that M&S was a
neverending transformation story. Last
week, however, Rowe was able to bow
out having restored the business to the
black. Signs of life in its clothing
business meant he could claim that
M&S was “fundamentally changed”.The Marks lifer has had
his fair share of battles,
but is leaving to loud
applause, writes
Ashley Armstrong
Toyota has cut
150,000 cars
from its June
output plan in
Japan, citing a
shortage of parts
from ChinaToyota halts production over chip shortage
However, it warned there was “a possi-
bility” it could lower that number in its
full-year production plan.
“It is very difficult to estimate the
current supply situation of parts due to
the ongoing lockdown in Shanghai,”
the company said.
The lack of certainty about the
supply of parts has been a constant
refrain from carmakers in Japan and
elsewhere. Given that China is both the
world’s largest car market and a global
manufacturing giant, disruption to its
economy has implications for supply
and demand, analysts warn.
This month Subaru warned that its
dealers in the United States have a
record low stockpile of about 5,000
vehicles, while Honda Motor said it
would cut production by 20 per cent at
two domestic factories.
Toyota said that its Corolla, RAV4,
Prius and 4Runner models would be
among those affected by the produc-
tion suspension.Times Business ReporterTOYOTAStock markets
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