Business
Co-op reveals financial impact of ‘malicious’ cyber attack
The Co-operative Group has revealed it plunged to a £75 million underlying pre-tax loss for the first half of the year, primarily due to an £80 million earnings hit from a “malicious” cyber attack in April.
This marks a significant downturn from the £3 million profit reported in the same period last year.
The retailer confirmed that the cyber incident, which led to widespread disruption including empty shelves and payment issues for shoppers, impacted sales by an estimated £206 million.
This directly contributed to the £80 million blow to earnings, a sum that also included £20 million of non-underlying one-off costs.
For the six months to July 5, the Co-op recorded a £32 million underlying operating loss, a sharp contrast to the £47 million earnings achieved a year earlier.
The group expects to face a continuing, though diminished, financial impact in the second half of its fiscal year.
Debbie White, chairwoman of the Co-op, said: “The first half of 2025 brought significant challenges, most notably from a malicious cyber attack.
“Our balance sheet strength and the magnificent response of our 53,000 colleagues enabled us to maintain vital services for our members and their communities.”
The Co-op said the hacking attempt was “sophisticated” but that it acted “quickly and decisively to temporarily shut down a number of systems to contain the threat”.
The group shut off parts of its IT systems after the attack, in which hackers accessed and extracted members’ personal data.
The group said previously that the hackers created a copy of one of the firm’s files but were unable to attack its platforms further and install planned ransomware.
It said efforts following the incident included moves to keep essential services running, such as its funerals business, while prioritising stock to rural “lifeline” stores.
It also said it supported independent co-op societies and franchise partners to minimise disruption to them, while it offered its members a £10 discount off a £40 shop as a thank you for their support throughout the disruption.
Chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq said: “The cyber attack highlighted many of our strengths.
“But more importantly, it also highlighted areas we need to focus on – particularly in our food business.
“We’ve already started on this journey, refining our member and customer proposition, making structural changes to our business, and setting our Co–op up for long-term success.”
Business
Minimum wage rises to £12.71 an hour as firms warn of impact
But Spencer says his business is being squeezed from every angle – as well as minimum wage, he has had increases in business rates, national insurance, and statutory sick pay. He also expects energy bills to go up because of the war in the Middle East.
Business
Visa launches new AI tools to manage the charge dispute process
Visa Inc. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Visa is launching six new tools using artificial intelligence to modernize the process of disputing credit card charges, the company told CNBC exclusively.
The digital payments company said the tools are designed to reduce the costs and frustration of “outdated” dispute processes for multiple entities involved in the payments process: merchants, issuers and acquirers.
“Some of the challenges are these back-office systems are still largely manual,” Andrew Torre, Visa’s president of value-added services, told CNBC. “We really had to think differently about how we approach this at scale.”
In 2025, Torre said, Visa processed more than 103 million charge disputes globally, marking a 35% increase since 2019.
“Our goal is to streamline this as much as possible,” Torre said. “We’d love to be able to see that growth rate come down.”
Visa’s new tools are part of a larger push by major banks and financial institutions to incorporate AI into their businesses — both internally and in consumer-facing applications. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have both said they’re already using AI to hire fewer people. BNY spent $3.8 billion on technology in 2025, or about 19% of its revenue.
Visa said three of its six new tools focus on merchants, allowing them to address potential disputes before they escalate, managing disputes with generative AI responses and providing a deeper level of detail on order insights to manage confusion over unfamiliar charges.
For example, Torre said, many disputes are borne out of cardholders not recognizing a specific charge on their statements. With the new tool, Visa will be able to provide further details to financial institutions to show cardholders that data at a deeper level, according to the company.
The other three tools are built for issuers and acquirers, using predictive AI models to aid in case-by-case analysis, analyzing documents for summaries and auto fill and establishing an AI-powered dispute platform to manage the entire process in one location, Visa said.
“We’ll be able to get them insights and data so they can move from being reactive to proactive,” Torre said.
Torre said Visa’s new AI tools are part of a broader host of solutions for consumers, including a subscription manager announced last week that allows cardholders to cancel unnecessary subscriptions directly on the manager.
The automation will save time, money and unnecessary confusion for both parties, he added. Most of the tools will be generally available later this year, the company said.
“We really believe that disputes in this solution makes it much easier to manage and resolve,” Torre said. “We think it has better outcomes for everyone.”
Business
Stock market today (April 1, 2026): Which are the top gainers and losers in Nifty50 and BSE Sensex today? Check list – The Times of India
Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty ended nearly 2 per cent higher on Wednesday, starting the new financial year on a firm footing as global markets rallied on hopes of a potential de-escalation in the ongoing West Asia conflict.The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,186.77 points or 1.65 per cent to settle at 73,134.32. During intra-day trade, it surged 2,017.03 points or 2.80 per cent to 73,964.58.The broader NSE Nifty rose 348 points or 1.56 per cent to close at 22,679.40. A decline in crude oil prices also supported investor sentiment.
Nifty50 top gainers
- Trent (+7.00%)
- InterGlobe Aviation (+6.02%)
- Kwality Wall’s (+5.79%)
- Adani Ports SEZ (+5.55%)
- BEL (+4.51%)
- SBI (+3.93%)
- Eicher Motors (+3.64%)
- Jio Financial Services (+3.50%)
- Eternal (+3.30%)
Nifty50 top losers
- Dr Reddy’s (-3.61%)
- HDFC Life (-2.99%)
- Cipla (-2.32%)
- Sun Pharma (-1.64%)
- NTPC (-1.62%)
- Apollo Hospitals (-1.53%)
- Power Grid (-1.12%)
- Max Healthcare (-0.36%)
- UltraTech Cement (-0.29%)
Sensex top gainers
- Trent (+7.00%)
- InterGlobe Aviation (+6.02%)
- Adani Ports SEZ (+5.55%)
- BEL (+4.51%)
- SBI (+3.93%)
- Eternal (+3.30%)
- L&T (+2.96%)
- Titan Company (+2.89%)
Sensex top losers
- Sun Pharma (-1.64%)
- NTPC (-1.62%)
- Power Grid (-1.12%)
- UltraTech Cement (-0.29%)
- Bharti Airtel (-0.03%)
“Indian equity markets opened the new financial year on a positive note, with stocks soaring on fresh optimism surrounding a potential de-escalation of the Middle East conflict and easing of energy supply disruptions,” said Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money.He added that US President Donald Trump’s remarks suggesting the US could withdraw from Iran “whether we have a deal or not” within the next two to three weeks provided the trigger for a broad rally in global risk assets.“Indian equity markets opened FY27 on a strong note, driven by improving risk appetite following US President Donald Trump’s remarks hinting at a potential resolution to the West Asia conflict,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments Limited.In the US, markets ended significantly higher on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq Composite surging 3.83 per cent, the S&P 500 rising 2.91 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 2.49 per cent.Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, declined 0.22 per cent to USD 103.7 per barrel.Stock markets were closed on Tuesday on account of Shri Mahavir Jayanti.Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 11,163.06 crore on Monday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 14,894.72 crore, according to exchange data.
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