Irish arm of M&S records €8.8m pre-tax loss due to exceptional costs of €42.3m
Numbers employed by the retailer declined by 51 from 1,279 to 1,228 as staff costs decreased slightly from €56.66m to €55.57m. File photo
Costs associated with the closure of Marks and Spencer (M&S) outlets in Drogheda and Clarion Quay in Dublin contributed to the Irish arm of the retailer recording pre-tax losses of €8.85m in 2024.
New accounts filed by Marks & Spencer (Ireland) Ltd show that the business recorded the pre-tax loss of €8.85m after incurring exceptional costs of €42.3m in the 12 months to the end of March 2024.
The bulk of the exceptional costs concern a non-cash impairment charge of €35.8m relating to the company's investment in Marks and Spencer Turkey Clothing Textile LLC.
The directors said “other exceptional charges of €6.5m relate to closure costs associated with the closure of our Drogheda and Clarion Quay stores in March 2024 and redundancy costs relating to certain roles which were made redundant at our Dublin Support Centre”.
The pre-tax loss of €8.85m followed a pre-tax profit of €20.6m in the prior year. The retailer recorded the pre-tax loss as revenues rose by 2.4% from €362.9m to €371.66m.
The directors said operating profit before exceptional items rose by €14.4m or 68% to €35.5m. In their report, the directors state that they are pleased with the underlying performance of the company for the year.
They said: “Continued sales growth, a focus on cost reduction and the creation of a more simplified operating model are key drivers behind the profit improvement. Our transformation plan continues but there is still lots more to be done.”
The directors said they consider the loss to be specific to the €42.3m mainly non-cash exceptional charges.
In a post balance sheet, the directors refer to the impact last year’s cyber incident had on the Irish business. A note states that “in April 2025, Marks and Spencer Group plc announced that it had been managing a cyber incident".
The note said “this significantly impacted the performance of the Ireland business in the first half of the 2026 financial year”.
The note adds that "the temporary pause in our online operations during the summer impacted online sales. Store sales in fashion, home and beauty were impacted by reduced availability".
They state that “our food business was impacted by higher levels of waste caused by manual stock allocation”.
The directors said food sales in 2024 grew by 7.9% to €161.4m, "with sales growth from both our store estate and from the rollout of our food offer to more Applegreen stores, with whom we launched a partnership in the previous year".
They said store sales of clothing and home declined by 2.7% to €156.47m while online sales of clothing and home grew by 2.3% to €53.77m.
Numbers employed by the retailer declined by 51 from 1,279 to 1,228 as staff costs decreased slightly from €56.66m to €55.57m.
The loss takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €10.74m. Pay to directors totalled €567,000 made up of €519,000 in emoluments and €48,000 in pension contributions.
Shareholder funds at the end of March 30, 2024, totalled €166.3m that included accumulated profits of €58.43. Cash funds increased from €7.96m to €13.8m.
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