M&S growth story overshadowed by £300m cyber attack hit

Marks & Spencer is predicting a £300m profit hit from the ongoing “highly sophisticated” cyber incident initiated when hackers broke into the retailer’s systems last month.

Having paused online orders, the retailer expects disruption to continue into July. The decision to pause online shopping has “heavily impacted” sales and trading profit in its fashion, home and beauty division, while food sales have been impacted by “reduced availability”.

Despite these issues, CEO Stuart Machin told media today (21 May) the retailer is in its “best financial health for nearly 30 years” and is on track with its strategy of “reshaping M&S for growth”.