Drexler leaves a big Gap

GAP, the High Street retailer hit by an alarming sales slump over the last two years, is hunting for a new chief executive after Millard S Drexler suddenly announced plans to quit. He will stay in the job at the San Francisco-based company until a successor is found.

Drexler, 57, has been with Gap for nearly 19 years and has earned more than £36m since 1995. But analysts say his surprise decision to go indicates he accepts that he is not the right person to reverse Gap's alarming decline in fortunes.

Some analysts interpreted Drexler's departure as a sign that the company's problems run deeper than just stocking the wrong clothes in its three major retail chains - Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic.

Drexler has been telling investors that trading will improve in the second half of this year as the company clears its stores of trendy fashions and returns to the basic clothing styles that fuelled its steady growth during the 1990s.