Latest news with #MarksandSpencerGroup
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
M&S says hackers gained access to customer data in April cyberattack
This story was originally published on Cybersecurity Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Cybersecurity Dive newsletter. Marks and Spencer Group has begun notifying customers that hackers accessed some of their data in an April cyberattack, according to a trading update released Tuesday. The British retailer said the information does not include 'usable payment or card details,' which it does not store on its own systems, nor any password information. However, customers will be prompted to reset their passwords the next time they visit M&S online or attempt to log in to their accounts, according to the update from CEO Stuart Machin. The company has shared information about how to remain safe online, according to the update. M&S is one of three major U.K. retailers — along with the famed Harrods department store and the supermarket chain Co-op — to be targeted in a recent cyberattack spree by highly skilled hackers. The notorious cybercrime group Scattered Spider has been linked to the attack, although a separate group called DragonForce has claimed credit for the intrusions. The attacks disrupted online purchases and impacted some store inventories. The U.K.'s National Cyber Security Centre issued a statement earlier this month confirming that it was working with the retailers to get a better understanding of the attacks. NCSC CEO Richard Horne described the incidents as a wakeup call, and officials released guidance for how to mitigate future ransomware attacks. In a note to customers from Jayne Wall, M&S's operations director, the company said the stolen customer information could include basic contact details, dates of birth and online order histories. Payment information might have been stolen, the company said, but detailed payment card data would be masked and would, therefore, be unusable. The stolen information could also include customer reference numbers for M&S credit card or Sparks Pay holders, according to a frequently asked questions page. Customers were warned to be on alert for fraudulent calls, emails or text messages claiming to be from the retailer. Despite the lack of actionable payments information, customers should remain vigilant about hackers potentially abusing the additional personal details, according to Matt Hull, head of threat intelligence at NCC Group. 'Despite the absence of financial data or passwords, threat actors could potentially use the stolen information to launch targeted social engineering attacks,' Hull said. 'Stay vigilant for phishing messages pretending to be from M&S or other companies you've dealt with.'
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
With 79% ownership in Marks and Spencer Group plc (LON:MKS), institutional investors have a lot riding on the business
Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Marks and Spencer Group's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions 50% of the business is held by the top 21 shareholders Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit. Every investor in Marks and Spencer Group plc (LON:MKS) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 79% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company. Last week's 4.0% gain means that institutional investors were on the positive end of the spectrum even as the company has shown strong longer-term trends. One-year return to shareholders is currently 49% and last week's gain was the icing on the cake. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Marks and Spencer Group, beginning with the chart below. Check out our latest analysis for Marks and Spencer Group Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing. As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Marks and Spencer Group. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Marks and Spencer Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too. Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Marks and Spencer Group. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc. with 9.3% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 4.7% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.2% by the third-largest shareholder. Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 21 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership. Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future. The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it. I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions. Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Marks and Spencer Group plc. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own UK£6.1m of stock. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling. The general public-- including retail investors -- own 15% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies. It seems that Private Companies own 4.6%, of the Marks and Spencer Group stock. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company. It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Marks and Spencer Group better, we need to consider many other factors. I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph . Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company . NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
With 79% ownership in Marks and Spencer Group plc (LON:MKS), institutional investors have a lot riding on the business
Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Marks and Spencer Group's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions 50% of the business is held by the top 21 shareholders Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit. Every investor in Marks and Spencer Group plc (LON:MKS) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 79% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company. Last week's 4.0% gain means that institutional investors were on the positive end of the spectrum even as the company has shown strong longer-term trends. One-year return to shareholders is currently 49% and last week's gain was the icing on the cake. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Marks and Spencer Group, beginning with the chart below. Check out our latest analysis for Marks and Spencer Group Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing. As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Marks and Spencer Group. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Marks and Spencer Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too. Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Marks and Spencer Group. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc. with 9.3% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 4.7% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.2% by the third-largest shareholder. Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 21 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership. Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future. The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it. I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions. Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Marks and Spencer Group plc. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own UK£6.1m of stock. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling. The general public-- including retail investors -- own 15% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies. It seems that Private Companies own 4.6%, of the Marks and Spencer Group stock. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company. It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Marks and Spencer Group better, we need to consider many other factors. I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph . Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company . NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. 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Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Are Investors Undervaluing Marks and Spencer Group plc (LON:MKS) By 35%?
Marks and Spencer Group's estimated fair value is UK£5.67 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity Current share price of UK£3.68 suggests Marks and Spencer Group is potentially 35% undervalued Analyst price target for MKS is UK£4.29 which is 24% below our fair value estimate Does the March share price for Marks and Spencer Group plc (LON:MKS) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. We will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model on this occasion. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine. We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model. View our latest analysis for Marks and Spencer Group We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate: 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 Levered FCF (£, Millions) UK£386.8m UK£454.4m UK£489.6m UK£559.0m UK£575.0m UK£589.4m UK£603.8m UK£618.3m UK£633.0m UK£647.9m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x5 Analyst x3 Analyst x3 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 2.51% Est @ 2.45% Est @ 2.40% Est @ 2.37% Est @ 2.35% Present Value (£, Millions) Discounted @ 6.8% UK£362 UK£398 UK£402 UK£430 UK£414 UK£397 UK£381 UK£365 UK£350 UK£335 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = UK£3.8b After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (2.3%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 6.8%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2034 × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = UK£648m× (1 + 2.3%) ÷ (6.8%– 2.3%) = UK£15b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= UK£15b÷ ( 1 + 6.8%)10= UK£7.6b The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is UK£11b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of UK£3.7, the company appears quite good value at a 35% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out. Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Marks and Spencer Group as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 6.8%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.879. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. Strength Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry. Debt is not viewed as a risk. Weakness Earnings growth over the past year is below its 5-year average. Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Consumer Retailing market. Opportunity Annual earnings are forecast to grow for the next 3 years. Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value. Threat Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the British market. Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. What is the reason for the share price sitting below the intrinsic value? For Marks and Spencer Group, there are three additional aspects you should consider: Financial Health: Does MKS have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk. Future Earnings: How does MKS's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the LSE every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
