The cyberattack on the British retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) caused profits at the company to plunge to £3.4 million pounds ($4.4 million) in the first half of 2025 — down from £391.1 million ($510 million) during the same period a year ago.
“The first half of this year was an extraordinary moment in time for M&S,” said CEO Stuart Machin, who said the company is “getting back on track” after a cyberattack in April that disrupted online sales for months. The company previously predicted its profits would take a £300 million ($395 million) hit from the incident.
After discovering the cyberattack, the company disconnected its warehouse management systems and online ordering. Home delivery orders resumed in June and “click and collect” — whereby customers order goods online for pickup — was restored in August, the company said.
“Practically all operational systems have now been recovered,” the company said in its earnings report.
M&S said Wednesday that an £100 million ($130.4 million) insurance payment helped to soften the revenue blow.
The incident — part of a cluster of costly cyberattacks targeting prominent British retailers — is believed to be linked to the Scattered Spider hacking collective. Four people, including one teenage minor, were arrested in July in connection to hacks on Co-op, Harrods and M&S.
Other U.K. clothing retailers have benefited from M&S’s struggles, including Next, which last week reported a 7.6% rise in sales in part due to “competitor disruption.”
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James Reddick
has worked as a journalist around the world, including in Lebanon and in Cambodia, where he was Deputy Managing Editor of The Phnom Penh Post. He is also a radio and podcast producer for outlets like Snap Judgment.
