M&S chief’s pay slashed by £3m after cyberattack turmoil

The boss of Marks & Spencer has seen his pay slashed by more than 40 per cent after a crippling cyberattack forced the supermarket to scrap its bonus policy across the business.

Stuart Machin received £3.97m in the 12 months to April, according to the company’s annual report, down sharply from the £7m he was paid the previous year.

M&S’s remuneration committee said there would be “no bonus scheme” at the group as a result of the costly attack, which ground its online services to a halt for weeks and forced several of its stores to stop taking card payments.

“In reaching this decision, careful consideration was given to the exceptional commitment and leadership demonstrated by the management team during a period of significant challenge, recognising that they worked harder than ever to successfully lead the business through such a difficult time,” the committee wrote.

“However, it was concluded that, in the circumstances, and having particular regard to the experience of our shareholders, it would not be appropriate to make a bonus payment.”

The bulk of Machin’s pay cut came as a result of the board’s decision to axe the wider executive bonus scheme. Last year, the M&S boss earned a bonus worth some £1.65m, after overseeing a bumper year for the supermarket in which its share price more than doubled.

He also earned less cash via the retailer’s performance share plan, after the cyberattack left a 29 per cent hit to the group’s profit. Machin earned some £3.1m under the plan, under which executives are granted M&S shares for hitting certain performance-based targets, in the 12 months to 2025, compared with a handsome £4.5m the previous year.

M&S chair hits out at ‘challenging’ policy environment

The April 2025 cyberattack cost the group £133.3m in total, the company said in its report, though its leadership been able to claw back more than £100m of that through an insurance claim.

“The cyber incident starting in April coloured the financial performance for the whole year and put many of our financial ambitions into abeyance,” M&S chairman Archie Norman said.

The chair, a former Conservative MP, also used his letter to issue a broadside on the policy environment for retailers and businesses, saying it has been a particularly challenging period for some of M&S’s smaller competitors.

He said: “We have of course some headwinds: there has rarely in the history of M&S been a time where the regulatory environment has been less friendly to growth and investment and our tax burden increased substantially during the year.

“Our role is to sale into the wind and ride the waves. The impact has however been felt more keenly by smaller competitors and the result is reflected in the continued decline of many high streets and town centres.”