Yesterday’s food and drink headlines were largely dominated by the rate of inflation rising by more than anticipated and the revelation that Marks & Spencer’s profits have taken a £300m hit due to the ongoing cyberattack.
While M&S updated the markets with a solid set of full-year results, much of the focus remained squarely on the fallout of the cyberattack, now in its third week. Most reports flagged the financial loss, as well as the fact that M&S expected some of its services to remain disrupted until July.
M&S financials were otherwise strong, with year-end sales (to March 2025) up more than 6%, and food sales growth of 8.7% – making all those pictures of empty shelves even more galling. The Financial Times reported that chief executive Stuart Machin attributed the cyberattack to “human error”, while The Guardian added that “threat actors” had gained access to the retailer’s systems using “heavily sophisticated social engineering” techniques. (Pretending they needed help from the IT department.)
Sky News went into more detail, confirming that food sales have been “impacted by reduced availability”, as well as the additional waste and logistics costs, which are all expected to contribute to that £300m impact on Q1 profit.
The Grocer also covered Machin’s account of how the cyberattack unfolded over the Easter bank holiday.
The Financial Times broke the news late yesterday evening that government will be delaying the long-awaited UK junk food advertising ban until next year. Due to come into force this October, the HFSS ad ban will see a 9pm watershed implemented for the TV marketing of unhealthy products as well as a complete ban for online ads.
The delay will allows ministers to change the current guidance following heavy lobbying from the industry, which means that advertising which uses brand names but does not show the unhealthy products themselves will not be covered by the scope of the legislation.
We can expect to see more fallout from this u-turn today as the on-again, off-again legislation faces its latest rewrite.
Posh department store Harvey Nichols isn’t immune to retail’s struggles of late, with a report in The Times revealing that it will be scrapping its grocery business completely – including those famous Christmas hampers – as it moves to stem its losses and “reclaim its crown as a luxury fashion destination”.
Several non-core operations will be closed down, including own-brand food, hampers, corporate food sales and the online food marketplace, with 70 jobs at risk across the high-end retailer. Consultations began immediately.
The director of a £25m post-Brexit border control post in Portsmouth has told The Guardian it risks being demolished if the UK-EU deal removes the need for health and veterinary checks on food imports.
It is one of more than 100 border control posts around the UK, built to look after post-Brexit checks on imports such as meat, fish, dairy products, fruit and vegetables.
Hacker community Scattered Spider is the key suspect in a National Crime Agency inquiry into the recent spate of attacks against UK retailers, including The Co-op, M&S and Harrods, according to a report by the BBC.
“In light of all the damage that we’re seeing, catching whoever is behind these attacks is our top priority,” said Paul Foster, head of the NCA’s national cybercrime unit.
Greggs shoplifters are still grabbing the headlines too, with Sky News reporting that a prolific shoplifter has been banned from every Greggs in England and Wales after being caught stealing from the high street bakery no less than seven times.
After releasing a video of his exploits on social media, Metropolitan Police described the ban as the “end of his sausage roll era”.
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