Marks & Spencer suffered a sharp fall in its annual profit following last year鈥檚 high-profile cyber attack.
The retailer was forced to halt all orders through its website and apps following last April鈥檚 hack.
According to the company鈥檚 annual results, profits were hit by 拢131.3m in costs related to the cyber incident.
The retailer said pretax profit dropped 29 per cent to 拢364.6m in the 52 weeks to March 28, from 拢511.8m the year prior.
Adjusted pretax profit fell 24 per cent to 拢671.4m from 拢881.1m, but sales grew 25 per cent to 拢17.37bn from 拢13.91bn.
Share price rise
M&S鈥檚 share price rose by just over 5 per cent on the back of Wednesday鈥檚 results, which were ahead of forecasts.
M&S said: 鈥淧erformance in 2025/26 was a year of two halves: significant operational impact from the cyber incident during the first, followed by a return to sales and profit growth in the second.
鈥淒espite the disruption, M&S made further progress on its transformation, enabled by a strong balance sheet.”
Chief executive Stuart Machin said it was an 鈥榚xtraordinary year鈥�.
He said: 鈥淎 resilient balance sheet, supported by the hard work done on our cash position in recent years, allowed us to absorb the cost of disruption without compromising our financial health.鈥�
Warning
Will Slater, executive director at 聽global insurance brokerage Gallagher, said: 鈥淭hese results show how quickly a cyber attack can unfortunately become a commercial issue. For a retailer, it鈥檚 not just the cost of fixing systems, it is the sales lost while customers cannot shop, the pressure on operations, and ultimately, the confidence that can be difficult to rebuild afterwards.
鈥淎cross large UK businesses, our research found that lost trading was the single biggest cyber cost last year, accounting for 拢5.4bn of losses. However, if a business faces legal action too, the final bill from an attack can keep growing long after trading resumes.
鈥淭he legal fallout from a cyber attack can be just as damaging as the disruption itself. Many businesses assume they are protected, yet only six in 10 large UK firms are insured for third-party legal claims in these circumstances, so they should check their cover.鈥�