LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Shares in Sosandar plunged on Thursday, after the womenswear brand warned that the cyberattack on Marks and Spencer would hit profits.
The AIM-listed firm, which is moving from being online only to opening its own stores as well as partnering with retailers, said it had received no sales through M&S since mid-April.

Although the blue chip resumed partial online orders last month, Sosandar said it was "cautiously anticipating" lower sales through M&S for the rest of the year. M&S is its second-biggest third-party partner.

In addition, it acknowledged that the stores it opened during the year - its first ever - had yet to move into profitability, and said it would now pause the roll-out in response.

It therefore now expects revenues in the current year to come in at £43.6m, up 18% year-on-year but below consensus for £46.2m, while adjusted pre-tax profits would likely be just £400,000. Analysts had been pencilling in profits of £1.5m.

As at 0945 BST, shares in Sosandar had tumbled 25% to 6.01p.

In a joint statement, chief executives Ali Hall and Julie Lavington said opening bricks and mortar shops had been a "milestone".

But they acknowledged: "We have taken clear learnings from the trajectory of our stores in market towns versus shopping centres, and are focused on getting our existing portfolio to profitability before opening any further stores.

"This decision, alongside the continuing impact from the M&S cyber incident on our third-party sales, means we are moderating our expectations for revenue and profit growth in the current year."

The update came as Sosandar posted numbers for the year to March end.

Revenues fell 20% to £37.1m, as it looked to boost margin by moving away from price promotion.

As a result, gross margin rose to 62.1% from 57.6%, helping adjusted pre-tax profits come in at £156,000, from a pre-tax loss of £332,000 a year previously.

However, on an audited basis, the pre-tax loss was expected to be £0.1m, in contrast to the £0.5m pre-tax profit flagged in Sosandar's April trading update. The change was attributed to £0.4m stock writedown.

Nicholas Mustoe, chair, said: "This has been a pivotal year...in which we have changed strategic direction. We have transitioned to being a true, multi-channel retailer.

"We expect a return to sales growth in the 2026 full year at full margin, and are confident the foundations are now in place for sustainable, profitable and cash-generative growth over the medium to long-term."

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