Marks & Spencer's CEO wage surge, fueled by FTSE 100 stock price growth, curtailed by cyber attack incident.
In the spring of 2025, Marks & Spencer (M&S) fell victim to a major cyber attack, linked to the notorious hacking group Scattered Spider. Despite this setback, M&S's CEO Stuart Machin had pockets bulging with more than £7m in 2025, a marked increase from the £5m he pocketed in the previous year.
M&S's share price soared, adding millions to the company's market capitalization, making up a significant part of Machin's enhanced paycheck. The retailer's shares started the financial year at around 260p but ended at approximately 356p.
The company's annual report cited nearly £2.7m of Machin's pay as a direct result of the increased share price. However, M&S's share price took a dramatic dive following the revelation of the cyber attack, slumping from 411p to a low of 345p.
The cyber attack also led M&S's remuneration committee to review the performance metrics and targets for the next performance share plan (PSP). City AM reported in May that revenue at M&S had increased by six per cent to £13.8bn during its latest financial year. Despite the revenue growth, pre-tax profit fell by almost 24 per cent to £511.8m over the same period.
M&S confirmed that it would increase its annual dividend by 20 per cent to 3.6p per share in 2025, despite the operational and financial challenges faced due to the cyber attack. An M&S spokesperson defended Machin's generous pay package, stating that it was decided by the board and linked to the performance against stretching pre-set targets.
More than 90 per cent of Machin's pay was linked to M&S's performance and share price. Over 75 per cent of his pay was made up of long-term and deferred share awards, tied to future share price performance. This increase in compensation reflected the strong performance and growth of M&S under Machin's leadership over the past three years, the spokesperson added.
In addition, the company claimed that the strong performance of the business in 2025 allowed it to make its biggest ever investment in store colleague pay, granting bonuses to more than 5,000 employees. The M&S spokesperson concluded by saying, "Almost all of Stuart's pay is linked to the performance of the business and the share price. His total pay for FY25 reflects the strong performance and growth of M&S under his leadership over the last three years."
The increase in M&S's share price, attributed largely to the company's financial performance and Machin's leadership, made up a significant portion of the CEO's enhanced paycheck, with more than 90% of his compensation tied to M&S's performance and share price. Consequently, the remuneration committee decided to review the performance metrics and targets for the next performance share plan (PSP) in light of the cyber attack.
