LONDON – British retailer Marks and Spencer saw its half-year profits more than halve as a result of a cyberattack that brought its online business to a grinding halt.

In a statement Wednesday, M&S said its underlying pretax profits tumbled 55.4% to 184.1 million pounds ($240 million) in the six months to Sept. 27, largely on the back of a 40% collapse in online home and fashion sales after it was forced to halt website orders. Firm food sales helped cushion the blow.

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M&S had to stop all online sales for around six weeks and suffered empty shelves due to disruption to its logistics systems after hackers targeted the business around the Easter weekend. The company has said the attack was due to “human error.”

The hack cost it 324 million pounds in lost sales but that

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