M&S has more to worry about than hackers

THIS ISN'T JUST a cyberattack, it's an M&S cyberattack.

- Andrea Felsted Bloomberg

To borrow a phrase from the retailer's famous food ads, Marks and Spencer Group Plc has been hit hard by the spate of hacks of retailers' information-technology systems.

The company said on Wednesday the incident, which it described as "highly sophisticated", would cost it about £300 million ($402 million) in operating profit in the year to March 2026, before any cost savings, or recovery under insurance policies, which could be half of the total.

Hyperactive Chief Executive Officer Stuart Machin says he will use the incident as an opportunity to modernise M&S faster and more extensively, compressing two years of technology progress into six months. He needs to show that M&S is finally getting a handle on the situation and can get back on track — and quickly.

Although the current financial year began well, the incident forced M&S to pause online sales in fashion, beauty, and home furnishings. The company expects disruption to continue through June and July, although Machin said he hoped to restore services earlier.