Marks & Spencer has revealed the interruption of a large cyber attack, it is expected to continue until July and cost the company around £ 300 million.
The British Street giant stopped the orders on its website and saw empty shelves after being attacked by hackers approximately one month ago during the Easter weekend.
Now, the retailer, who has 64,000 employees and 565 stores, has said that sales and online earnings in his fashion, home and beauty business have been «very affected.»
Meanwhile, food sales were affected by reduced availability, but the company emphasized that this is already improving «in a financial performance update for the stock market today.
M&S said the incident will reduce operational profits by approximately 300 million this year, but this will be reduced through cost management, other actions and insurance.
Executive President Stuart Machin said: ‘It has been a challenge, but it is a time in time, and now we are focused on recovery, with the aim of getting out of this period a much stronger business.
‘There is no change in our strategy and our longest plans to remodel M&S for growth and, in any case, the incident allows us to accelerate the rhythm of change as we move forward and move on.
«This incident is an increase on the way, and we will get out of this in a better way and we will continue our plan to remodel M&S for clients, colleagues and shareholders.»
It occurs after the detectives investigating cyber attacks against the retailers of the United Kingdom, including M&S, CO-OP and Harrods, revealed that they focused on the scattered spider team of English-speaking adolescents.
Customers go through a Marks & Spencer store at Oxford Street in London last week
Empty shelves inside a Marks & Spencer store in Paddington, London, April 29
Paul Foster, head of the National Cyber Crime Unit of the National Crime Agency, told the BBC: «We are looking at the group that is known publicly as a dispersed Spider, but we have a variety of different hypotheses and we will follow the evidence to reach criminals.»
«In light of all the damage we are seeing, catching who is behind these attacks is our top priority.»
And Google said last week that those responsible were also attacked to US companies, and retailers worldwide now run to boost their cyber defenses.
Meanwhile, M&S’s shareholder, David Wallace, said the retailer «dropped the ball» with his handling of the attack, adding that «he should have managed better.»
He told BBC Radio 4: ‘They have encountered this. M&S has to take firm control of this situation, solve problems and reassure customers and shareholders.
‘They must be firm, decisive and communicate their solution. He took a little too long … They should make it very clear how they are handling it and how people have been affected by him. »
Wallace said he will remain invested, adding: «I still believe in them.»
The executive director of M&S, Stuart Machin, has revealed that the computer pirates accessed the personal data of the clients
Empty food shelves in A Marks & Spencer in Cambridge on April 29 after the cyber attack
M&S said today that the interruption of online operations is established to continue during June and July as we restart, then increase operations. «
However, he indicated that buyers will see improvements in the coming weeks, which adds that clothes and housing sales have been «resistant» in stores in recent weeks.
The group has also reported ‘additional waste and logistics costs’ after changing to manual processes after the attack.
But Financial Times reported last week that the business could ensure up to £ 100 million of an insurance payment.
Today, M&S revealed an adjusted tax gain of £ 875.5 million £ 875.5 million for the year until March, 22.2 percent more than the previous year.
The group received stronger profits on their food arm, which saw sales by 8.7 percent to £ 9 billion during the year.
M&S revenues grew 6 percent to £ 13.8 billion as a whole for the year, as fashion, home and beauty sales grew 3.5 percent.
M&S has faced stock problems after the cyber attack that has left many empty shelves
However, now almost a month since M&S was first affected by an important ‘cybernetic incident’.
The British retail giant arrested online orders during the last three weeks as a result of the attack, while payments and click orders were also affected.
The availability of M&S Saw in stores also hit the interruption, causing some empty shelves as parts of their IT systems changed, but he said that this is now recovering.
The hackers in the attack took customer personal data, which could have included names, email addresses, postal addresses and birth dates.
Barclays analysts suggested that the attack could result in a cost of £ 200 million for financial year 2025/26, but it is likely that this would be compensated with an insurance payment of around 100 million.
The attack knocked down the business after a positive period under the leadership of Mr. Machin, with actions that reach a maximum of almost nine years last month before a recent fall.
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