Marks & Spencer to Reveal £300m Cyber Attack Impact on Half-Year Sales

Marks & Spencer (M&S) is set to disclose the full financial impact of the cyber attack that forced it to suspend online operations for about six weeks earlier this year, during its half-year results announcement on November 5. Despite the outage, M&S is expected to report broadly flat revenues for the half-year to September, buoyed by growth in food, clothing, home, and beauty divisions driven by CEO Stuart Machin's turnaround strategy. The attack, caused by human error, disrupted logistics, led to stock shortages, and compromised customer data, with an estimated cost of around £300 million before insurance claims and cost-cutting. Investors remain confident in the brand's strength, though they seek clarity on any adjustments to the cost estimate and how the incident affected sales momentum, especially as competitors like Next gained market share during the outage. Analysts view the upcoming results as a key test of customer confidence and M&S leadership, expecting the company to address lingering financial and trading impacts. Overall, M&S aims to clarify shopper responses and the recovery trajectory following the cyber incident amid ongoing operational progress.