M&S profits halved after cyber attack

Shoppers were unable to shop at Marks & Spencer after a cyber attack meant the firm lost more than half of its profits.

The boss of the British high street chain said the attack in April was an “extraordinary moment” because it revealed a more than 55% drop in pre-tax profits in the first half of the year compared to the previous year.

As well as disrupting the company’s online business, the attack also affected its in-store stores, leaving some shelves empty in the weeks after M&S was targeted.

M&S said it had received £100 million in insurance money in relation to its response to the cyber attack, close to what the incident had cost it.

The fashion and food company was forced to suspend online orders for almost two months; click and collect was suspended for almost four months.

Announcing its financial figures for the six months to September, when it made adjusted profits before tax of £184 million, M&S said the chain’s “underlying strength” meant it was “back on track” and that it expected full-year profits to be on par with last year.

Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, an analyst said it was reassuring that sales in homewares and fashion, the core part of M&S’s business, were down only around 16%.

“It’s quite resilient given that they were offline for most of the trading period and only came back online in August for clicks and collects,” said Judith MacKenzie, president of Downing Fund Managers.

He said that although it had been a “pretty terrible time” for the company, it was “remarkable” that food sales had increased by 7.8% during that period.