M&S boss pay cut by £3 million following cyber attack

M&S boss Stuart Machin has seen his pay reduced by 44% for the 2025/26 financial year, following the retailer's decision not to operate the annual bonus scheme for executive directors after last year's major cyber attack.

Machin's pay is set at £3.97 million in the 12 months to April, according to the company's 2026 annual report. That is £3.08 million less compared to the previous year, when his earnings reached £7.05 million.

The news follows M&S revealing a slump in sales and profits for the year ending March 2026 due to disruption caused by the cyber attack, which halted online sales.

M&S's remuneration committee said that it had considered the impact of the cyber incident on the performance of the business and had concluded that, particularly in recognition of the shareholder experience, "it would not be appropriate" to make bonus payments for the financial year.

It added: "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.

"While Executive Directors continued to be measured against a scorecard of individual objectives aligned to the strategic priorities set out earlier in this report, no financial payment will be made in respect of these achievements."

Machin's pay cut is mostly a result of the company's decision to cut the annual bonus scheme. Last year, by comparison, he earned £1.65 million in bonuses following the supermarket's solid performance.

The 23.8% hit to M&S's pre-tax profits following the cyber attack also weighed on Machin's remuneration by affecting the retailer's performance share plan, under which executives receive share awards tied to performance targets.

This year, Machin was paid £3.055 million as part of the performance share plan (PSP), as well as a £913,000 base salary.

By comparison, he earned £4.52 million under the PSP scheme last year.

M&S was forced to stop all online sales for about six weeks following a cyber attack in 2025 and experienced empty shelves because of disruption to its logistics systems.

The London-listed firm said late last year that the incident would hit its annual profits by about £136 million.

On Wednesday, it said adjusted pre-tax profits fell by 23.8% to £671.4 million for the year.

The high street giant also told shareholders that revenues dropped by 25% to £13.8 billion for the year to 29 March 2026, compared with a year earlier.