Sir Stuart Rose, chairman and chief executive of UK retailer Marks and Spencer, has survived calls from some shareholders to step down a year earlier than planned - but 38% of the group's investors voted for a special resolution to appoint an independent chairman.

Shareholder groups viewed the votes against Sir Stuart as significant. Manifest, the proxy voting agency, said: "The results are not the unqualified victory for M&S management they claim to be. The resolution, although defeated, attracted twice as much support as any previous FTSE100 resolution; the closest contender was BAA in 2004."