Marks & Spencer winning the battle for middle class foodies

Marks & Spencer is winning the battle for middle-class grocery shoppers despite falling prey to a crippling cyberattack, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Food sales at the retailer grew at almost twice the rate of the wider market in the first month after the cyber hack.

The robust performance, described by one analyst as 'remarkably strong', shows M&S is extending its lead over rival Waitrose, which also targets affluent shoppers.

Sales at M&S of groceries, its biggest unit, grew by 8 per cent in the four weeks to May 18, according to the latest data from research firm Kantar. That compares with sector growth of just over 4 per cent, meaning M&S has increased its share since it confirmed the attack on April 22.

Analysts say that while the hack caused its growth to slow from 21 per cent in the previous period, further gains are likely as M&S opens new, larger stores. Chief executive Stuart Machin has vowed to double the size of the food business. He is accelerating a programme to convert 12 former Homebase outlets into food halls stocking the entire M&S range.

Many are in affluent middle-class towns, including Godalming and Farnham in Surrey, and Abingdon in Oxfordshire. The stores are situated near Waitrose supermarkets, throwing down a gauntlet to the rival retailer.

The Godalming site, which will be M&S's largest food-only store when it opens next summer, is opposite a Waitrose. Analysts expect the cyberattack to cost the food business about £100 million, mainly through wastage and the extra logistics costs involved in replenishing bare shelves.

Shares in M&S have recovered in recent weeks, but are still 8.5 per cent down since the hackers struck.

In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday last week, Machin said M&S would emerge stronger from the crisis. 'We've been around for 140 years with lots of challenges. We survived that and we'll survive this,' he said.

In a reshuffle, marketing executive Anna Braithwaite left last week. M&S has appointed Boohoo's David James as supply chain and logistics director. Sharry Cramond, who was in charge of food marketing at M&S, will become marketing director of fashion, home and beauty.

'M&S looks remarkably strong despite the cyber disruption,' said James Anstead at Barclays investment bank.

In the hack, the personal data of millions of customers was stolen, online sales suspended, and shelves emptied after cyber criminals gained entry to M&S systems over Easter, apparently via a third party.

The food and clothing giant faces a total bill of up to £300 million and the disruption could go on until July.