M&S shops get £300m upgrade as part of cyber attack recovery
On Tuesday, the retailer said it was 'significantly accelerating' efforts to revamp its network of stores across the UK, with plans to open 16 new sites, refurbish 12 existing locations and extend nine stores this financial year.
Of the 16 new sites, 12 will be M&S Food halls situated in key middle England market towns such as Abingdon, Oxfordshire; Cannock, Staffordshire; and Farnham, Surrey.
Stuart Machin, the M&S chief executive, said he had to be 'responsible with shareholder money', but was pushing ahead with plans to bring more of its shops up to date, adding: 'We have to go fast. I'm hoping by 18 months' time, half of our store estate will be new or renewed.'
In the last year, M&S said it had signed 47 deals for new and renewed stores to open by early 2028, marking a step up in investment.
It comes as the retailer battles to win shoppers back after being struck by a cyber attack which wiped out its systems in April.
Mr Machin told shareholders on Tuesday that M&S needed 'to just get back, get our product back online, get the stores in even better shape', adding: 'I've been in stores every weekend, and we're okay, but we're not as good as we should be.'
The retailer has been racing to get its systems back up following the hack this spring, which forced the company to stop taking online orders and left supermarket shelves empty.
M&S restarted online orders last month. However, half of its online operations remain unavailable, including click-and-collect.
On Tuesday, Mr Machin said: 'Within the next four weeks, we're aiming for the whole of online to be restored. I'm really hoping by August, the majority of this is behind us.'
It follows warnings from M&S that the cyber attack would deal a £300m hit to profits this year.
On Tuesday, M&S faced questions from shareholders over Mr Machin's pay package. Last month, it emerged that his pay jumped to more than £7m weeks before the cyber attack. One shareholder said the chief executive should 'take full responsibility by reducing his bonus'.
Archie Norman, the M&S chairman, said Mr Machin's pay for the current financial year would reflect the disruption, although said it was too early to say how his total package would be affected.
'We want everyone to go gangbusters for the rest of the year so let's see where we get to.'
He described the cyber attack as an 'out-of-body experience', adding: 'We came out of the year end with a bit of a spring in our step and of course, in business life events have a way of tripping you up and putting you on your backside again.'
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