Rose spends £575,000 on M&S shares

Stuart Rose, the chief executive of Marks & Spencer, spent £575,000 yesterday buying shares in the retailer that last week saw off a £9.1bn bid attempt from Philip Green.

Stuart Rose, the chief executive of Marks & Spencer, spent £575,000 yesterday buying shares in the retailer that last week saw off a £9.1bn bid attempt from Philip Green.

The company also revealed that Mr Rose has been granted 979,825 shares under an option scheme at 347p. Mr Rose has already announced that any profit between the grant price and 400p - the level at which Mr Green pitched his bid proposal - will be donated to charity.

Charles Wilson, who Mr Rose brought into M&S as the director responsible for property, has been granted options over 576,367 shares and will also donate profits between 347p and 400p to charity.

The share options are exercisable between three and 10 years from yesterday's grant date and are subject to the satisfaction of certain performance criteria. Mr Rose's additional share purchase was for 165,000 shares bought at 348.25p, bringing his total holding to 300,416.

The Financial Services Authority said that earlier this month it had dropped its inquiries into Mr Rose's previous share purchases in M&S.