M&S food sales slow after cyberattack

Times

3 days ago

Sales growth slowed in Marks & Spencer's food business over the past three months as it dealt with the fallout from a crippling cyberattack.
The FTSE 100 retailer reported sales in its food arm rose 9.1 per cent year-on-year over the 12 weeks to June 14, according to NielsenIQ, the research company. That represented a slowdown from 10.8 per cent growth in the three months to May 17 and 14.7 per cent in the report before that, reflecting the disruption that followed a cyberattack in April.
Though M&S's market share ticked up ten basis points on the year to 3.7 per cent, it was down from the 3.8 per cent reading in last month's report.
M&S was hit by a cyberattack over Easter weekend that initially affected its online services, including click and collect and contactless payments.
The high-street stalwart paused online orders for almost two months, including clothes deliveries, and also took other systems offline. That reduced food availability and also resulted in higher waste and logistics costs.
The company has since restored its operations. The group resumed taking online orders for clothing lines on June 10 after a 46-day suspension. However, M&S estimated that the attack would hit profits by about £300 million, although it is expected to claim £100 million from insurers alongside other mitigations.
Clive Black of Shore Capital, the broker, noted 'commendable momentum' from the retailer despite the slowdown. 'No doubt there was a particular dip in momentum at the end of April and into May, but it looks like the label is returning to outperformance again,' he said. 'Well done M&S, however, on seeing through a still strong performance in the face of immense malevolent challenge.'
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Most of NielsenIQ's data echoed the findings of rival researcher Kantar's report on Tuesday, with robust performances from market leader Tesco, number two player Sainsbury's and online supermarket Ocado. However, M&S is not fully included in Kantar's market share data set.
Black said: 'M&S, despite disruption, shows up well whilst Sainsbury & Tesco continue to gain share. The market is, as ever, competitive, but also rational; no price war is evident, which augurs well for earnings outcomes in 2026. The health agenda grows for the sector.'
Asda, which has been struggling since its private equity takeover, saw another slowdown in sales, according to NielsenIQ. Sales at the UK's third-largest grocer fell by 1.6 per cent during the 12-week period, while market share slipped from 12.4 per cent to 11.5 per cent.
Total till sales growth increased by 3.8 per cent in the past four weeks, up from 3 per cent the previous month, thanks to warmer weather 'enabling al fresco dining', NielsenIQ said.
An M&S spokeswoman said: 'We continue to make good progress in growing our food business, outperforming the market on both volume and value in all the latest data. We've launched over 200 new and upgraded lines in our foodhalls over the last two weeks, exciting both new and existing customers as they visit us more often and drive our market share growth over the long term.'