M&S poaches John Lewis' finance chief

LONDON, United Kingdom - British retailer Marks & Spencer on Monday poached John Lewis' chief financial officer Helen Weir to be its new head of finance.

Weir, 52, will succeed Alan Stewart, who quit M&S in July to join Britain's biggest retailer Tesco, as chief finance officer on a date to be confirmed.

Weir has been CFO at John Lewis since 2012 and is also a former finance director at both Lloyds Banking Group and home improvement retailer Kingfisher.

Confirming her resignation, John Lewis said it expected Weir to work her six month notice period. A spokesman for M&S declined to say if the firm would press for her earlier release.

M&S said she would receive a basic annual salary of 590,000 pounds ($923,114) along with standard benefits commensurate with her position.

Weir will also receive a one-off payment of 188,500 pounds to compensate for the differential in contractual pension that she is forfeiting to join M&S.

The retailer said a further award for 2014-15 annual bonus foregone may also be taken into consideration.

Since July, Paul Friston, executive assistant to M&S chief executive Marc Bolland, has been M&S's interim CFO but was not a candidate for the permanent position.

Earlier this month, M&S reported its first rise in first-half profit for four years and raised its profit margin guidance for the full year.

Shares in M&S closed up 0.9 percent at 472.9 pence, valuing the business at 7.8 billion pounds.

1 US dollar = 0.6391 British pound