M&S profits halved after cyber attack

Shoppers unable to buy from Marks & Spencer after it was hit by a cyber attack meant the firm lost more than half of its profits.

The British high street chain’s boss said the April attack was “an extraordinary moment in time” as it revealed a slide of more than 55% in its profits before tax for the first half of the year, compared with the year prior.

As well as disrupting its online business, the hack affected the company in-store too, leaving some shelves bare in the weeks after M&S was targeted.

M&S said it had received £100m of insurance money related to combating the cyber attack, around the amount which the incident had cost it.

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

Revealing its financial figures for the six months to September, where it made a £184m adjusted profit before tax, M&S said “the underlying strength” of the chain meant it was “getting back on track” and expected full-year profits to be in-line with last year.

One analyst told BBC’s Today programme that it was reassuring that the main part of M&S’s business, homewares and fashion, only saw sales decline around 16%.

“Given that they were offline for most of the trading period and really only came back online for their click and collect in August, it’s pretty, pretty resilient,” said Judith MacKenzie, head of Downing Fund Managers.

She said it was “outstanding” that its food sales were up 7.8% over that time despite it being “a pretty horrendous period” for the company.