Marks & Spencer (M&S) shares continued to tumble on Monday morning, dropping more than 2%, as the retailer grappled with the fallout from a major cyber incident that forced a pause in online sales across the UK, Ireland, and international markets.
The decline follows Friday’s earlier dip when the news first broke, sending M&S shares down by around 5% and wiping millions off the company’s market value. Having peaked at 411.3p in mid-April, the shares have now fallen over 8% in just five trading days, settling at 376.4p and giving the retailer a current market cap of £7.74 billion.
The cyber attack, which was first disclosed by M&S late last week, has not only affected online operations but also reportedly caused problems with in-store contactless payments. While shoppers can still browse the M&S website and add items to their baskets, a quiet notification atop the site informs customers that transactions are currently paused.
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The timing of the disruption couldn’t be worse. With summer-season sales typically seeing an uplift — especially during a mini heatwave — halting online orders has significant financial implications. Last year, M&S revealed that 9.4 million of its regular customers shopped online, accounting for 33% of its total sales. The company has ambitions for 50% of its fashion and homeware sales to come from digital channels in the future.
M&S is working closely with external cybersecurity specialists and has reported the incident to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre. However, several consecutive days without online sales could seriously impact the company’s upcoming results. In its latest half-year report, M&S announced a 5.8% rise in total sales to £6.524 billion, and its full-year figures are scheduled for release late next month.
As the retailer races to resolve the cyber breach, all eyes will be on how quickly it can restore normal operations — and whether customer confidence and investor sentiment will bounce back just as swiftly.