Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has reported a sharp financial setback for the July–September quarter after a severe cyber-attack forced the company to halt production for several weeks. The luxury carmaker posted a £485 million loss before tax and exceptional items, compared with a £398 million profit in the same quarter last year.
The attack, which occurred in late August, compelled JLR to shut down its computer networks, leaving its highly automated production lines non-operational throughout September and into early October. The prolonged disruption significantly dented output and revenue.
P.B. Balaji, Group CFO of Tata Motors, said extensive work is underway to strengthen JLR’s cyber resilience. “A lot of work is currently happening on ensuring that such an incident doesn’t happen again and we’ve already hardened the external interfaces. There are clear pathways of work that are currently underway in the company,” he said.
Reiterating the company’s commitment to preventing future breaches, he added, “As far as ensuring that the estate is well protected, as well as ensuring that such an incident does not happen again, obviously, a lot of work is currently happening in JLR to stabilize and harden the external interfaces. We believe we’ve already done that. And at the same time, we’re also standing up the system as we speak.”
He added that cybersecurity will remain a top priority: “This will be a key area of focus as we go forward. And we’ll continue to keep strengthening our cyber posture on that front. And rest assured that there are clear pathways of work that’s currently underway within the company to ensure that we harden our systems.”
£150 Million Exceptional Cost Booked; Recovery Expected in H2
JLR booked about £150 million as an exceptional cost for the quarter related to the cyber incident. “The cyber incident for the current quarter is concerned as an exceptional cost that we have showed in the P&L of close to about £150 odd million. And therefore, that’s what you would see in the P&L, that’s the impact for the quarter,” he said.
He added that this figure comprises a combination of costs, including supplier claims due to halted production, system restoration, and duplication of systems. The larger hit, he clarified, came from the production volumes lost during the downtime. “So that’s what we are hoping to pick up speed. And currently, this is the current view of the business. And let’s see how we… we’re on six more months to close the year, or the five more months to close the year,” he said, indicating optimism for a stronger second half.
Beyond cybersecurity, Balaji highlighted a tough global demand scenario.
“On the overall demand situation global demand remains challenging. I think China is an area where concern is still there in terms of volumes from a retail perspective. At the same time, the tariffs coming up, that’s also a stress from the US perspective.” He said building and sustaining order books will require “working doubly hard” as production ramps up.
Balaji also acknowledged the possibility of customer data exposure during the attack. “And as far as customer data is concerned, there’s a possibility that some of it could have been leaked. This being obviously, there’s an investigation underway on that the regulators have been kept informed,” he said.
Revenue Down 24%; EBIT Margin Turns Negative
In the September quarter, JLR’s revenue fell 24.3% YoY to £4.9 billion, hurt by lost production, the planned phase-out of legacy Jaguar models, US tariff pressures, and higher marketing expenses. EBIT margin dropped to –8.6%, from 5.1% a year earlier.
JLR posted a £559 million loss after tax, compared with a £283 million profit in Q2FY25. The company now expects a FY26 EBIT margin of 0–2% and a free cash outflow of £2.2–£2.5 billion, but remains committed to its £18 billion five-year investment plan.
The cyber-attack, which led to a five-week production shutdown, is estimated to have caused £1.9 billion in damage to the UK economy.