Good afternoon and welcome to our coverage of Marks & Spencer's annual general meeting. It's likely to be a contentious affair, with up to 30% of shareholders possibly refusing to back Sir Stuart Rose's promotion to executive chairman.
Once, Rose was as fireproof as they come. But poor sales and a falling share price mean he could get a bloody nose today.
The mood at the AGM, which is taking place at the Royal Festival Hall, probably won't be helped by the steady drizzle that is dampening investors as they arrive.
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1.15pm
We've sent Laura Valdez and Eloise Veljovic down to the meeting to chat to shareholders as they arrive. They found plenty of concern about the idea of the executive chairmanship, but no enthusiasm at all for the idea that Rose should leave. No-one is planning to sell their shares (currently 237p, up 5.5p today) and one person is planning to buy more.
1.45pm
I wonder if Stuart Rose is looking back nostalgically to 2004, when he fought off his sometimes-chum Sir Philip Green. One shareholder certainly remembers those days - rushing up to tell us that "Rose has saved us from Green!"
Speaking of which, there are some amusing reports in the papers today about how the pair jousted at the Fashion Retail Academy Awards yesterday. The front page of the FT shows Green glaring magisterially down on Rose (having elevated himself over his rival by perching partway up a staircase). He also apparently whipped out a fiver and announced that he had just bought two M&S shares - making the point that he would have paid £4 for one in 2004.
2pm
And we're off, as Rose stands up to address several hundred shareholders - who are still bruised from the 25% plunge in the M&S share price last week.
He says he's genuinely delighted to be meeting shareholders today and tells the audience that "many of you will have concerns about our share price, our current trading, my role, and other issues." That seems to cover most issues then.
2.15pm
Rose prides himself on always wearing M&S clothes from top to toe. Today he is sporting a medium-grey suit, and a shiny lilac tie. Finance director Ian Dyson is dressed almost identically - is this some kind of corporate uniform?
After introducing the board (including Martha Lane-Fox), Rose sets the scene with a grim assessment of the retail market.
M&S is "a bit like a smoke detector" for the economy, he says. "Customers are saying that their purses are pressed. The cost of living is soaring ...and it will take longer to feed through than people think." The kind of assessment that might send shareholders rushing to phone their broker to place a sell order.
2.20pm
Dyson runs though the year's performance. Despite last week's shock profits warning, he's finding plenty of highlights - the £1bn pre-tax profits, higher dividends, expansion plans in place, share buyback continuing (but only depending on market conditions and other demands on the company - there have been rumours that M&S might not have spare cash to hoover up its shares in the market). He gets warm applause - the M&S shareholders are a polite bunch.
Back to Rose. He calls it a year of two halves. "A robust six months, and then a much tougher time". Also repeats his popular line that M&S was a weak business in a strong market in 2004, but now it's a strong business in a much weaker market.
In an apparent jibe at the press, Rose insists that "despite negative publicity" its food business has grown, with sales up at home and abroad. Wonder how Steven Esom, the head of food who was fired last week, feels about that ...
2.30pm
So how is M&S going to change to survive in these worrying economic times?
"Different courses need different horses," says Rose (who is now speaking in his chief executive capacity). A different CEO, perhaps?
Nope, it means more of the same in clothing and homeware - although Rose admits that it can be hard to navigate to the right size [I can agree with this, having wandered around the Per Una section of the Marble Arch branch the other day]
Food, though, needs a greater focus on value to make it "more accessible to a wider customer base". Possible translation: M&S food is going to get a little bit cheaper. That's why we made the "very important managerial change last week", says Rose. Not even a namecheck for Esom :(
He finishes on a strong note: M&S has been on the high street for 125 years next year (we have a historical slideshow), and he believes it will be there in 100 years' time.
2.40pm
Rose has his chairman's hat back on. Says he "very much regrets" the negative publicity that his accession to executive chairman has attracted. Insists it's the right thing for the company, and that the company takes corporate governance very seriously. That's not what some corporate governance advocates have argued.
It's almost time to allow the shareholders - who look quite pacified by the free sandwiches, fruit and ice-cream they tucked into before things kicked off - to let rip.
First, Rose runs though some feedback. He's had complaints about people not finding the right clothes, but insists that M&S now has the lowest rate of returns in womenswear since 1999 [although Mrs Wearden is about to dent that statistic when she returns her birthday present from Per Una].
Suddenly Rose faces his first dissent, when he mentioned M&S's decision to charge for carrier bags. Booing and possibly even hissing broke out (!) followed by cheering when he says the policy will be kept under review. Anecdotally, checkout staff have told us that many customers are angered - especially if they've just paid £100 or more on food.
Rose says he had 154 letters on this - 75 in favour and the rest against. So get writing, chaps.
2.50pm
Shareholders now get to grill Rose. Janet Combes bowls Rose a loosener. "You're an old friend who has been there for us, and we'll be there for you."
Others, though, take him to task over the clothing range. One lady claimed that she simply can't find clothes that suit her age range (oh OK, I guess she's in her 40s, but she looks stylish enough to me).
Another shareholder, who says she's quite a bit younger, says she trawled around a dozen stores in a fruitless search for her favourite bra and can't find other items in her style and size either. She gets a result, though - Rose promises that Kate Bostock, head of womenswear, will take her shopping. If she's too busy, I'll take you myself, he promises. One delighted-looking shareholder - although she warns that she won't buy one of Rose's suits. "You will when you leave," he insists.
3.15pm
Clinton Silver, the ex-deputy chairman who calls himself a long-standing shareholder and former employee, spends about 10 minutes defending Rose's promotion, getting polite applause for his support and a much warmer reception when he finally offers to stop! Couple of good lines, though. "How many chief executives at financial companies had a firm and fatherly hand on the shoulder from their chairman before the credit crunch, warning that their strategy would deliver good bonuses but also lead to global catastrophe?"
Polite bunch, the M&S shareholders. I was at the HSBC AGM the other month and they were much rowdier. Mind you, they had endured 10 years of a ropey share price.
Now Helen Conley: "The performance on food, which led to the sacking of a certain gentleman who shall remain nameless today, is partly because of your policy on charging for plastic bags." Has Steven Esom been erased from history, like an out of favour Stalinist politician?
Rose, though, denies that plastic bag policy is to blame for the recent troubles at food.
Also says he regrets Esom's departure, but that the pace of the food division has picked up in the last few days.
3.20pm
Rose is getting into his stride, dismissing an article from Jeff Randall in today's Telegraph where he accused him of being close to becoming "the rag trade's Gordon Brown".
"I'm not sure how to take that one," Rose says.
"This week I've been called the Robert Mugabe of retail, a kitten strangler in one newspaper [the Telegraph]. I've been told I've got the hide of an armadillo - not sure if that's good or bad - and I've been accused of being arrogant. On being compared with Gordon Brown, I have no comment to make."
3.30pm
Another shareholder, John Farmer, takes the board to task for its bungled succession plan. "You wasted the chance to have a dream team of chairman Myners and chief executive Rose, and instead appointed a duff chairman, chairman Burns. [That's Paul Myners, also of Guardian News and Media, who was replaced by Lord Terry Burns two years ago. Burns himself is leaving with a payoff as part of the exec chairman plan].
Sir David Michels, senior non-executive director, defends the executive chairmanship.
"It's not forbidden by the code, you just have to explain the reasons."
We then get the clearest sign yet that Rose still enjoys the love of his shareholders, and is going to survive today, perhaps in some style.
Michels wins a near-cheer when he declares that "we need Stuart to run the company. He's got a job to do and he's the best person to do it ... History will show we made the right decision."
Farmer is unimpressed. "As Mandy Rice-Davies would say, he would say that."
Rose swats him out of the stadium: "Mr Farmer, do I remind you of Mr Profumo or Mandy-Rice Davies?" Cue much hooting across the auditorium, and a promise from a near-speechless Farmer to "get back to you next year".
3.40pm
After a slightly baffling discussion on the short-selling of M&S shares and whether anyone has admitted doing it (are they suddenly doing a rights issue?), we inch towards the voting. This could take a while, as Rose runs through the smartcard technology that will be used ...
3.45pm
We're whistling through the resolutions. Although nothing fails - and there's even a small round of applause when Kate Bostock gets re-elected - there is some significant opposition (12%) to the remuneration report. We'll only get the full results later once the abstentions are factored in.
Resolution 5 has been pulled - no re-election for Steven Esom - and then it's number 6, re-electing the executive chairman. Michels drags out the tension : "Are you nervous ... it's really quite tense ..." as shareholders hammer on their electronic voting pads.
Rose is re-elected with 94.1% of the vote! Much applause and the occasional cheer from the audience (imagine the crowd if the village cricket team pulled off a tight win). Almost 95% in favour, but without counting the abstentions - the typical way that City institutions vent their disapproval.
4pm
With the rest of the voting over, Rose thanks the gathering for their support, their patience, and their ownership of a great company. And with that he was gone. We'll get you the full voting stats as soon as we can.
4.45pm
Right. After some vigorous number-crunching, I reckon that 22% of shareholders failed to back Rose as executive chairman. The figure of 94.1% in favour didn't count a large slice of abstentions (140m of the 793m or so shares cast). That is a significant snub, or expression of support for good corporate governance if you prefer.
On the remuneration report, I think the voting in favour comes down to around 83% once abstentions are factored in.
Julia Finch will be bringing you the full story on today's vote just as soon as M&S releases the full figures. Thanks for your time, and your comments.
