Morrisons chief executive Marc Bolland is leaving to run high street giant Marks & Spencer - a move he denied he was interested in earlier this year.

Marks & Spencer named Mr Bolland as its new chief executive today.

Mr Bolland is due to unveil Morrison's third quartter trading results tomorrow when the City will find out whether Britain's fourth-largest supermarket has continued to outperform its main rivals from which it has poached millions of customers.

The 50-year-old succeeds M&S executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose, who will continue at the firm as part-time chairman.

Sir Stuart said: "I am delighted that Marc is to be M&S's next chief executive. He brings a wealth of consumer marketing experience and has made a great success of his time at Morrisons."

Dutch-born Mr Bolland joined Morrisons in 2006 after running the brewer Heineken and took over day-to-day running of the 400-store chain from Sir Ken Morrison, whose father founded the business as a market stall.

Morrison's half-year profits leapt to £449 million as the resurgent supermarket saw further strong growth in sales. The chain's 45 per cent increase in pre-tax profits came after same-store sales rose by 7.8 per cent, excluding fuel and VAT, in the six months to August 2.