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Marks & Spencer hires new buying pair for women's wear

By FashionUnited

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British department store group Marks & Spencer has taken on two new buyers, who

were reportedly working for rival department store chain Next.

M&S has hired Paula Bonham-Carter as head of buying for women's wear, who previously worked at Next for close to a decade as buying manager, and Laura Charles as head of buying for lingerie, who formerly worked as Next for over 15 years, according to Drapers. Bonham-Carter is said to report to Frances Russel at M&S, director of its womenswear division, while Charles will report to Jo Jenkins, director of lingerie and fellow former Next employee.

A spokeswoman for M&S commented: “We’re delighted that Laura and Paula are joining us as head of buying, lingerie and head of womenswear, buying respectively and look forward to welcoming them both to the M&S team later this year.”

The recruitment comes along not long after Marc Bolland, chief executive of M&S, officially congratulates Next for “doing a better job” than him of selling fashion over the Christmas period. Next's clothing sales in the weeks leading to Christmas grew 12 percent in comparison to M&S's clothing sales which dropped 2 percent and contributed to the group's 10th consecutive quarterly decline in non-food sales.

Next is predicted to out shine M&S for the first time, as the company raised its full-year pre-tax profit predications for the year to January 25 to fall between 684 million pounds and 700 million pounds. M&S remains cautious with its outlook for its current financial year, while analysts expect the group's annual profits to hit 630 million pounds after Citigroup lower its exceptions by 10 million pounds due to a weak sales from M&S general merchandise sector.

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