Copyright independent
Marks and Spencer's profits have fallen by more than half following a major cyber attack suffered earlier this year. The hack caused underlying pre-tax profits to tumble 55.4 per cent to £184.1m, with reported profits almost wiped out to £3.4m. Online home and fashion sales plunged over 40 per cent as the company was forced to stop taking online orders for around six weeks. The total cost of the attack is now estimated at £136m, significantly lower than the initial £300m forecast, with £100m recovered through an insurance payout. Customer personal data was also taken by hackers, but CEO Stuart Machin said the business is "getting back on track" and expects profits to be in line with last year in the second half.
