Marks & Spencer has confirmed the ongoing cyber attack disruption is expected to have a £300million hit on the retailer's 2025/26 accounts.
The high street giant provided an update on the cyber saga as it published its results for the 52 weeks up to March 29 this morning.
Despite revealing pre-tax profits of £875.5million in 2024/25 - its highest in more than 15 years - the announcement was soured by news of the devastating anticipated impact of cyber attack which has caused chaos with the firm's stock supply and online orders.
A statement issued this morning along with M&S's financial results read: "M&S entered the new financial year with strong trading momentum, with both Food and Fashion, Home & Beauty trading ahead of budget.
"Over the last few weeks, we have been managing a highly sophisticated cyber incident. As a team, we have worked around the clock with suppliers and partners to contain the incident and stabilise operations, taking proactive measures to minimise the disruption for customers.
"We are seeking to make the most of the opportunity to accelerate the pace of improvement of our technology transformation and have found new and innovative ways of working.
"We are focused on recovery, restoring our systems, operations and customer proposition over the rest of the first half, with the aim of exiting this period a much stronger business.
"Since the incident, Food sales have been impacted by reduced availability, although this is already improving. We have also incurred additional waste and logistics costs, due to the need to operate manual processes, impacting profit in the first quarter.
"In Fashion, Home & Beauty, online sales and trading profit have been heavily impacted by the necessary decision to pause online shopping, however stores have remained resilient. We expect online disruption to continue throughout June and into July as we restart, then ramp up operations. This will also mean increased stock management costs in the second quarter.
"Therefore, our current estimate before mitigation is an impact on Group operating profit of around £300million for 2025/26, which will be reduced through management of costs, insurance and other trading actions. It is expected that costs directly relating to the incident will be presented separately as an adjusting item.
"Overall, our strategy remains the same and there is no change to our longer-term plans to reshape M&S for growth. We are confident that we will enter the second half with a strong customer proposition, returning to the performance we were delivering immediately prior to the incident and throughout 2024/25, which is outlined in the following sections."
Chief executive Stuart Machin said: "We started the new financial year as we finished the last, with sales growth ahead of budget across both businesses.
"Over the last few weeks, we have been managing a highly sophisticated and targeted cyber-attack, which has led to a limited period of disruption. We have tackled this head on with incredible spirit, teamwork and deep sense of responsibility as we prioritised serving our customers.
"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.
"Over the last 140 years, M&S has overcome many challenges - testament to the longevity of this brand. This incident is a bump in the road, and we will come out of this in better shape, and continue our plan to reshape M&S for customers, colleagues and shareholders.
"I would like to thank all of our colleagues and supplier partners for their hard work and dedication and, importantly thank our customers. They have been unwavering in their support, and we are incredibly grateful for their patience and trust in M&S."