# M&S takes more than a year to recover from cyber-attack as profits bounce back to £355m

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/ms-takes-more-than-a-year-to-recover-from-cyber-attack-as-profits-bounce-back-to-355m/
- Published: 2026-11-04T08:17:14+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-04T12:53:42+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/nov/04/m-and-s-recover-from-cyber-attack-profits-bounce-back
- Topics: Business, Cybersecurity, Technology, World

## Key points

- M&S half-year profits climbed to £355m.
- Cyber-attack disruption continued to affect clothing sales.
- The chief executive welcomed an expected UK-EU food deal.

## Summary

Marks & Spencer reported a sharp recovery in half-year profits after a cyber-attack disrupted its operations, although the effects continued to weigh on clothing and homewares sales over the summer. The results show how long the disruption lasted, while chief executive Stuart Machin also criticised the government’s budget and welcomed a possible UK-EU food trade deal.

Pre-tax profits rose to £355m in the six months to 26 September, from £3.4m a year earlier, while group sales increased 16.2% to £9.2bn. The attack began over Easter 2025 and forced the retailer’s website offline for more than six weeks; manual ordering afterwards left some clothing categories short of stock. M&S said availability had now recovered, while Machin said the expected EU deal could help reduce £10m in post-Brexit costs.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.