Australian furniture retailer Nick Scali has incurred approximately $980,000 in costs following a cyberattack that disrupted its business operations earlier this year.
In a trading update released on 21 October, the company revealed that the August cybersecurity incident left its enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems unavailable for approximately three weeks, forcing employees to process customer orders manually.
The retailer said the $980,000 in direct costs related to consultants and legal advisers engaged following the incident. These expenses will be excluded from its underlying net profit results and reported separately as non-underlying items.
The cyberattack, which was disclosed in August, involved unauthorised access to company systems and exposed customer order information, including names, email addresses, delivery addresses and phone numbers.
Despite the disruption, Nick Scali continued operating its stores, relying on manual processes to maintain sales activity while its systems were unavailable.
The incident highlights the operational and financial consequences cybersecurity breaches can have on businesses, particularly those that rely on integrated technology systems to manage sales, inventory and customer information.
The disclosure comes as Nick Scali faces challenging trading conditions across Australia and New Zealand.
The company reported that store traffic declined approximately 10% during the first quarter of the 2027 financial year, while written sales orders fell 15% compared with the same period last year.
It expects first-half revenue across Australia and New Zealand to decline between 11% and 14%, with underlying net profit after tax forecast to reach between $28 million and $32 million.
The company also reported improving conditions in its UK operations, where like-for-like written sales orders increased 14%.
While the cyberattack costs are being treated separately from underlying earnings, the incident demonstrates how security breaches can create additional financial pressures for businesses already managing difficult market conditions.
For business leaders, the disruption also highlights the importance of operational continuity planning, including the ability to maintain essential services when critical technology systems become unavailable.
Nick Scali continues to pursue its expansion plans, with two additional stores scheduled to open in Australia and New Zealand in late December.
