IT was a clash of retail titans - billionaire tycoon Philip Green squaring up to Marks & Spencer boss Stuart Rose. At stake was the ownership of the best-known name on the high street and its ten per cent share of the clothing market.

The absorbing tug-of-war for M&S involved £9.1bn, wrangles over legal teams and even claims of industrial espionage and insider trading.

Ultimately, it would end in failure for Mr Green when he dropped his interest in July, frustrated by the unwillingness of small shareholders in M&S to back his bid.

But the question of whether the Bhs and Arcadia owner will make another attempt to land M&S is likely to hang over the retail sector into 2005.

Under stock market rules, Mr Green is excluded from making a new pitch for the retailer until January 15. But he will probably have noted that the M&S share price is stuck around 344p, compared to his final offer of 400p.

His reputation as a man with the Midas touch for retailing was enhanced by rising sales at Bhs and the announcement in October that he was paying himself a £460m dividend after clearing his borrowings on fashion empire Arcadia. In contrast, investors will soon learn whether the efforts of Stuart Rose to revitalise the flagging performance at M&S are beginning to pay off.

Since being parachuted in as chief executive at the start of June, Mr Rose has called a halt to the failed Lifestore concept, sold M&S Money, renegotiated supply deals and returned £2.3bn to shareholders.

But he has consistently stated that the benefits of his actions will not become fully visible until the spring, as M&S orders many of its products several months in advance.

Trading at M&S showed no improvement in the six months to October 2, with profits slipping to £292.7m from £325.1m a year earlier.

Nick Bubb, of Evolution Securities, said Mr Rose had a tough year ahead to prove himself and rated the probability of Mr Green returning with a new offer at evens.

He said: "Clearly, M&S is vulnerable considering the continuing poor trading performance, but Philip Green won't bid 400p again and will try to get it more cheaply."

David Buik, of financial bookmakers Cantor Index, said: "I think Philip Green is sensible enough to wait until April before making any move at all."

Mr Rose said last month that the business required radical change as he took direct responsibility for the retailing operation.

Discount days have been held to attract shoppers in the run up to Christmas, with 20 per cent reductions on more than half of the products in its stores.

But analysts said the popularity of the one-off promotional days underlined the point that M&S needed to compete more effectively on price, rather than simply blame poor product choices for its troubles.