The Co-operative Group has reported a £80m ($107m) hit to its first half-year (H1) 2025 operating profits due to a cyber attack in April, including £20m in one-off costs.
The attack contributed to an underlying pre-tax loss of £75m for the six months ending 5 July 2025, compared to a £3m profit in the same period of the previous year.
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The impact of the cyber attack on sales revenue of the Co-operative Group (Co-op) was £206m.
Co-op chief finance officer Rachel Izzard projects the incident’s full-year profit impact at £120m, including limited insurance recovery.
Izzard told Reuters: “We had the front-end elements of cyber insurance in place in terms of the immediate response capabilities in the technology space for third parties, but we don’t believe we will be claiming on insurance for back-end losses.”
The cyber attack compromised the retailer’s IT systems, leading to payment disruptions, widespread product shortages and the theft of personal data from all 6.5 million member customers.
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By GlobalDataThe group’s funeral homes were forced to revert to paper-based operations and there were empty shelves in stores.
Co-op chair Debbie White described the attack as “malicious,” noting it posed “significant challenges” in the first half of 2025.
CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq remarked: “The cyber attack highlighted many of our strengths. But more importantly, it also highlighted areas we need to focus on – particularly in our Food business. We’ve already started on this journey, refining our member and customer proposition, making structural changes to our business, and setting our Co-op up for long-term success.”
Group revenue dipped 2.1%, from £5.6bn in H1 2024 to £5.4bn in H1 2025.
Net debt, excluding leases, stood at £43m, which the UK retailer described as a significant reduction from nearly £1bn in 2021.
The group also highlighted ongoing challenges, including rising costs, global volatility and market competition.
The company stated: “In response, we remain committed to a disciplined approach to investment to support our future, while managing a reducing level of cyber impact through the second half.”
