Marks & Spencer is expected to expose the effect of a damaging cyber attack that brought its online marketplace to a halt when it unveils its financial performance for the past year
Retail giant Marks & Spencer is expected to break its silence on the effects of a devastating cyber attack. The incident saw its online marketplace grind to a halt.
The company will unveil its financial performance for the past year in an update to the stockmarket on Wednesday, May 21. But attention will be geared towards how it is coping after weeks of disruption.
It has been almost a month since the retailer – which has more than 1,000 stores nationwide – was first affected by a major ‘cyber incident’, reported to be linked to hacking group Scattered Spider. M&S was forced to pause online orders for the past three weeks as a result, while payments and click and collect orders were also impacted.
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M&S saw availability in stores also knocked by the disruption, causing some empty shelves as it changed parts of its IT systems, but said this was recovering quickly in an update on Thursday. Customer personal data, which could have included names, email addresses, postal addresses and dates of birth, was taken by hackers in the attack.
The retailer has not yet revealed the financial cost of the incident, but is believed to have missed out on tens of millions of pounds in sales. Analysts have said shareholders will be eagerly awaiting the firm’s guidance on profits and revenues for the current year as a result.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Although the annual numbers won’t show the effect, as they end before the outages of operations occurred, some guidance for the year ahead is expected, and it’s likely to be very cautious indeed. With online orders still suspended, the breach is expected to be costing around £4 million a day in lost sales.”
She added that fashion sales could be a particular casualty, with the disruption coming amid a spell of warm weather during a key period for spring/summer clothing lines. Analysts at Barclays have suggested the cyber attack could result in a £200 million cost for the 2025/26 financial year but that this is likely to be offset by an insurance payout of around £100 million.
The attack knocked the business after a positive period under the leadership of Stuart Machin, with shares striking an almost nine-year high last month before a recent drop in value. M&S is expected to report that total group sales increased by around 5% to £13.8 billion for the year to March 31, according to sector analysts.
The company is also expected to reveal pre-tax profit of around £840 million for the year. This compares with around £716 million a year earlier.