City relief as TalkTalk hack costs less than feared

The City breathed a sigh of relief today as TalkTalk revealed that the cost of the cyber attack on it last month may not be as bad as it was first feared.

Chief executive Dido Harding said there will be a one-off cost of between £30 million and £35 million but that she believed: “What we did was exactly right and the responsible thing to do.

“If you do what is right for the customer the business is better for it.”

Half-year figures from TalkTalk showed its profits were already falling before the cyber attack.

In the six months to the end of September (the attack was in October) headline earnings fell from £110 million to £90 million and the bottom line swung from a pre-tax profit of £20 million to an £8 million loss.