M&S delivers strong profits but warns of £300m cyber hit

Marks and Spencer (M&S) has halted the sale of a number of its popular meal deal offers, following the fallout from its ongoing cyber attack. 
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Marks and Spencer (M&S) has posted its best underlying profit performance in over a decade in its full year results, but has warned that it will face a hit to next year’s figures from ongoing cyber attack disruption.

For the 52 weeks ending 29 March 2025, the high street retailer’s adjusted pre-tax profits jumped 22.2% to £875.5m, driven by strong growth across both Food and Clothing & Home categories.

Sales rose strongly, with Food up 8.7% to £9bn and Clothing & Home up 3.5% to £4.2bn, with improved margins in both divisions.

Chief executive Stuart Machin said the group had “entered the year in great shape,” with the business outperforming the market and maintaining strong momentum.

However, the success of its last financial year has been largely overshadowed by the recent “highly sophisticated” cyber incident, which M&S said is expected to knock £300m off profits for 2025/26. Machin warned disruptions to services are expected to continue until July.


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The ransomware attack, which occurred last month, has seen widespread disruptions at M&S, including internal operations, food availability shortages and a pause to online shopping.

Despite this, in a post-trading call with journalists, Machin said this can be offset through financial mitigations such as trading and insurance recovery, understood to be up to £100m.

M&S added that the incident had allowed it to reaffirm its technology strategy. It has increased its its full-year dividend for the year just ended by 20%, underpinned by £443m in free cash flow and over £400m in net funds.

“Business is in great shape. We’re using this disruption to accelerate our tech transformation,” said Machin, “It’s a moment in time, not a change in direction”.

Elsewhere, Ocado fared less well, delivering a loss of £28.7m. This is despite strong volume growth of 30.3%, up from 29.0% the previous year.

Looking ahead, the retailer said there will be increased focus on Ocado improving delivery efficiency and maximising utilisation of its existing network, which was “critical” before investing in new capacity.

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M&S delivers strong profits but warns of £300m cyber hit

Marks and Spencer (M&S) has halted the sale of a number of its popular meal deal offers, following the fallout from its ongoing cyber attack. 

Marks and Spencer (M&S) has posted its best underlying profit performance in over a decade in its full year results, but has warned that it will face a hit to next year’s figures from ongoing cyber attack disruption.

For the 52 weeks ending 29 March 2025, the high street retailer’s adjusted pre-tax profits jumped 22.2% to £875.5m, driven by strong growth across both Food and Clothing & Home categories.

Sales rose strongly, with Food up 8.7% to £9bn and Clothing & Home up 3.5% to £4.2bn, with improved margins in both divisions.

Chief executive Stuart Machin said the group had “entered the year in great shape,” with the business outperforming the market and maintaining strong momentum.

However, the success of its last financial year has been largely overshadowed by the recent “highly sophisticated” cyber incident, which M&S said is expected to knock £300m off profits for 2025/26. Machin warned disruptions to services are expected to continue until July.


Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning


The ransomware attack, which occurred last month, has seen widespread disruptions at M&S, including internal operations, food availability shortages and a pause to online shopping.

Despite this, in a post-trading call with journalists, Machin said this can be offset through financial mitigations such as trading and insurance recovery, understood to be up to £100m.

M&S added that the incident had allowed it to reaffirm its technology strategy. It has increased its its full-year dividend for the year just ended by 20%, underpinned by £443m in free cash flow and over £400m in net funds.

“Business is in great shape. We’re using this disruption to accelerate our tech transformation,” said Machin, “It’s a moment in time, not a change in direction”.

Elsewhere, Ocado fared less well, delivering a loss of £28.7m. This is despite strong volume growth of 30.3%, up from 29.0% the previous year.

Looking ahead, the retailer said there will be increased focus on Ocado improving delivery efficiency and maximising utilisation of its existing network, which was “critical” before investing in new capacity.

FinanceNewsSupermarkets

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