Reported by The Guardian
Sales and profit from clothing and homeware remain below two years ago but ‘brand is in good health’
Marks & Spencer has said a devastating cyber-attack that shut down its website last year continued to hurt clothing sales over the summer, more than a year after the hack.
The retailer said profits bounced back to £355m in the six months to 26 September from only £3.4m a year before as it partly recovered from the hack. The attack, which began over Easter 2025, forced it to shut its website, which sells clothing and homewares, for more than six weeks.
More from the original report
Total sales over the half year across the food to fashion group rose 16.2% to £9.2bn.
However, M&S said sales and profit from its clothing and homewares arm remained below two years ago as “availability was constrained due to the longer than expected impact of manual ordering processes following the incident, while profitability was diluted by an increased mix of online sales which have higher fulfilment costs”.
The retailer has previously explained that its team of buyers had to calculate demand and make orders to suppliers without the help of their usual technology and detailed information last year.
Stuart Machin, the chief executive of M&S, said: “We are broadening our appeal and the brand is in good health, but the results fell short of their potential and show there is a lot more to do.”
The company said it had been able to take a bigger share of a declining clothing market despite the availability problems, which were now resolved, but “market conditions remain challenging”. Clothing, beauty and homewares sales rose 17.5% to almost £2bn in the half year compared with the same period last year, which was affected by the hack.
Performance is expected to improve in the second half as M&S said availability has now recovered “creating a better balance between core and seasonal stock”.
M&S’s food business increased sales by almost 14% to £5.2bn in the half year as it opened seven new stores and expanded or refurbished others. M&S said it was gaining share on everyday items…