Fashion & Home Sales DeclineA 16.4% decline in Fashion, Home and Beauty points to structural challenges in non-food categories, risking weaker store footfall and lower cross-category spend. Persistent underperformance requires sustained investment to rebuild assortment and digital capability, pressuring margins and long-term revenue mix.
Material Cyber Incident HitA ~£300m operating profit impact from a cyber event highlights a material operational vulnerability. Beyond the immediate hit, remediation, higher security spend, insurer relations and potential reputational damage can raise ongoing costs and complexity, weakening profitability resilience over the medium term.
Compressed Net Profit MarginNet margin of 2.1% despite solid gross margin implies elevated operating costs, one-offs or inefficiencies eroding earnings. Persistent margin compression limits reinvestment capacity, reduces the buffer against demand shocks and makes returns more dependent on volume recovery rather than pricing or mix improvements.