Marks and Spencer's Easter cyber attack has cost the retailer £136 million in direct response and recovery expenses, nearly eliminating its statutory profit for the first half of the year. Profits plummeted from £391.9m to just £3.4m as ransomware hackers infiltrated systems through a third-party contractor, knocking online shopping offline until June.
The attack devastated sales, with fashion and beauty dropping 16.4% and international sales down 11.6%. Click and collect services weren't restored until August. M&S expects to claim back £100m through insurance and anticipates profits will recover to last year's levels in the second half. Despite the setback, food sales remained strong with three consecutive years of monthly growth.
Source: Sky News