Retail M&S boss insists hackers' attack won't derail new store plans

MARKS and Spencer's boss has said a damaging cyber attack caused by "human error" will cost the company around £300 million.

- Henry SAKER-CLARK

But he insisted £39million plans for new flagship stores in Bristol and Bath remain on track - as does a new state-of-the-art depot at Avonmouth.

M&S halted orders on its website and saw empty shelves after being targeted by hackers around the Easter weekend. Customer personal data, which could have included names, email addresses, postal addresses and dates of birth, was also taken by hackers in the attack.

The high street retail giant said disruption to online shopping could continue into July but it hopes to have this partly restored "within weeks".

Chief executive Stuart Machin said: "It has been challenging, but it is a moment in time, and we are now focused on recovery, with the aim of exiting this period a much stronger business. There is no change to our strategy and our longer-term plans to reshape M&S for growth and, if anything, the incident allows us to accelerate the pace of change as we draw a line and move on."