Marks and Spencer has said it will take a £136 million (€154 million) hit to its annual profits from a cyber attack that caused havoc with the UK high street retailer’s online sales earlier this year.
In results on Wednesday, the retailer reported a £101.6 million charge in the first half relating to the attack and a further £34 million in the second half as it brought forward a technology overhauled in response.
The attack caused a 55 per cent fall in first-half profits to £184.1 million, down from £413.1 million a year earlier.
However, chief executive Stuart Machin said he expected profits in the second half to rebound “to be at least in line with last year”.
RM Block
The group had previously forecast that the April attack, which led to the theft of customer data and wiped more than £750 million off its market capitalisation, would cost it up to £300 million in operating profits this year.
M&S has said it believes DragonForce, a group of largely Russian cyber criminals, was behind the attack, which left it unable to sell clothes and furniture online for seven weeks. The company also confirmed it had claimed £100 million from its insurers.
Revenue for the six months to September 27 rose 22 per cent to nearly £8 billion. Growth in food sales, its largest business by revenue, offset a decline in fashion and home and beauty, which was hard hit by the cyber attack.
Adjusted basic earnings per share slid 55 per cent to 6.6p. The dividend rose by a fifth to 1.2p a share. --Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
