Marks & Spencer (M&S) has announced that the recent cyber-attack on its online store is set to result in a £300m hit to its operating profit in the 2025/26 financial year.

The supermarket retailer said the costs directly relating to the incident last month will be listed separately as an adjusting item in its results next year.

In the year to 29 March, M&S posted its highest profit before tax and adjusting items in over 15 years, increasing by 22.2% year-on-year to £875.5m.

Furthermore, its food sales jumped by 8.7% to £9bn, while its operating profit increased by 17.4% to £984.5m.

However, the retailer stated that food sales have been impacted by reduced availability since the cyber incident, with online sales on its fashion and home and beauty divisions also being "heavily impacted".

M&S added that this online disruption is set to continue throughout June and into July.

Chief executive at M&S, Stuart Machin, said: "We started the new financial year as we finished the last, with sales growth ahead of budget across both businesses. Over the last few weeks, we have been managing a highly sophisticated and targeted cyber-attack, which has led to a limited period of disruption. We have tackled this head on with incredible spirit, teamwork and deep sense of responsibility as we prioritised serving our customers.

"It has been challenging, but it is a moment in time, and we are now focused on recovery, with the aim of exiting this period a much stronger business. There is no change to our strategy and our longer-term plans to reshape M&S for growth and, if anything, the incident allows us to accelerate the pace of change as we draw a line and move on."

Looking ahead, M&S said that while the cyber-attack will damage its profits, the cost will be reduced through cost management, insurance and other trading actions.

It added that overall, its strategy remains the same and there is no change to its longer-term plans for reshaping its growth.

Furthermore, M&S stated that it is confident that it will enter the second half with a strong customer proposition.

Equity research analyst at Quilter Cheviot, Lucy Rumbold, said that the results are a "good set of number", but the announcement has been "overshadowed" by the cyber-attack.

She added: "M&S has had strong momentum over the last year or so, but this cyber-attack highlights just how damaging things like this can be. We now have a clearer picture around the profit damage, however uncertainty on the duration of the attack remains, leaving the company vulnerable to further risks in the market.

"Furthermore, M&S is increasing its capital expenditure, with around a third being invested in technology infrastructure so it can avoid such scenarios in the future. It will clearly be a long slog to get it back to where it was, but given the strong performance of late and provided the attack can be wholly eliminated, the business should get there."

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