George Davies, the man behind Asda's clothing business, George, has resigned from his job at the UK-based supermarket.

Mr Davies, the former head of UK clothing retailer Next, built up the "George at Asda" brand into a �600m ($853m) a year business.

According to the Financial Times, he said he had no dispute with Asda's new owner, Wal-Mart of the US, and did not plan to move to another retailer.

"My contract was due to run out, and the brand is at the stage where it can survive without me," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

President and chief executive of Wal-Mart Europe Dave Ferguson thanked Mr Davies for his "tremendous contribution" to the business.

"He has built an incredibly strong creative team and we are very confident everything is in place for the brand to go from strength to strength in the UK, Europe and globally."

Heart and soul

Analysts said Mr Davies' departure would be a big blow for Asda.

"Asda is not an outstanding food retailer but it is the best non-food retailer of the food retailers and the reason for that is George," said Verdict Research chairman Richard Hyman.

"He did not just put his name to the label, he was the heart and soul of it. And you cannot lose your heart and soul without it having a significant impact."

Mr Davies follows several other senior figures out of the door at Asda since Wal-Mart took control in a �6.7bn deal.

Earlier this month, former chief executive Allan Leighton, who headed Wal-Mart's European operations, departed to become chairman of the department stores group Bhs.

Mr Davies had earlier been recruited to Asda by its then chairman Archie Norman and developed a close working relationship with him.

Mr Norman left soon after Wal-Mart's 1999 purchase of Asda, in order to pursue a political career in the Conservative party.