Marks and Spencer is set to take over 12 former Homebase stores and turn them into their biggest food halls yet. 

Despite a crippling cyber attack which has so far cost the high street giant around £300million, M&S plans to open 12 more food stores, creating more than 550 jobs.

Eight of the stores are scheduled to be opened by July 2026, subject to planning permission and M&S has so far confirmed the name of five locations. Among the locations of choice for the new shops are Abingdon, Farnham and Northampton.

Embattled DIY chain Homebase plunged into administration last November, leaving the future of 130 stores hanging in the balance.

A rescue deal by ‘Del Boy billionaire’ Chris Dawson, owner of budget retailer The Range, saved 70 Homebase stores and around 1,600 jobs.

B&Q then agreed to buy a further five Homebase stores across the UK in January. 

Chief executive Stuart Machin said: ‘Investing in new and renewed stores is one of our key transformation priorities.

‘Securing these highly desirable sites in priority locations will accelerate this strategy, drive further growth in our M&S food business and, most importantly, give our customers the best possible M&S shopping experience.’

Eight of the new stores are scheduled to be opened by July 2026, subject to planning permission (file image: an aisle with food products is seen in M&S)

Despite some setbacks, the chain’s ambitions have continued unabated with M&S saying it plans to open ten Food stores and two full line stores (file image)

The 12 Homebase sites that M&S is buying will be converted into some of the company’s biggest standalone food stores.

A first wave of store openings is set to see Abingdon in Oxfordshire get a new store as well as Cannock in Staffordshire this year. Farnham and Godalming in Surrey, and Norhtampton will soon follow.

Bigger car parks are also earmarked for the sites and a brand new store feature is being introduced in the form of a coffee bakery concept where customers can collect items such as sourdough loaves, rivalling the likes of Gail’s. 

In February this year, Homebase said it would shut 33 more stores following on from the permanent closure of 13 branches in January.

The home improvement retailer and garden centre put 74 shops up for sale last November after the chain fell into administration.

B&Q agreed to buy five Homebase stores across the UK that same month, cementing its place as the country’s largest home improvement retailer. Sainsbury’s also secured ten stores last year.

Redwheel, M&S’s fourth-biggest shareholder with a stake worth more than a £250 million, has praised Archie Norman (chairman) and Mr Machin’s handling of the crisis despite the company’s share price stalling.

Ian Lance, fund manager at Redwheel, said the duo had been doing an ‘absolutely fantastic job’.

In February this year, Homebase said it would shut 33 more stores. Pictured: The last Homebase store in North Wales which started the process of closing down in January 2020

It comes as company shares have gone from below £1 in October 2022 to highs of well in excess of £4 prior to the hack.

Currently, they stand at nearly 9 per cent down on year-to-date highs. The company’s stock also remains below the £5.50 mark registered in May 2015.

Earlier this month, it was revealed hackers went undetected in M&S’s systems for up to 52 hours before the alarm was raised in what insiders described as a ‘colossal mistake’.

Believed to have been from the Scattered Spider group, the attackers got into the retailer’s IT systems via a contractor.

The hackers were then able to work undetected in the systems for just over two days before finally being uncovered, a source said.

In a statement to MailOnline, a spokesman for M&S said: ‘We are working closely with government and law enforcement agencies and as you would expect we cannot share any detail or comment on speculation around the incident itself, since we first reported it, and we have been advised not to.

‘Our stores have remained open and availability is now in a much more normal place with stores well stocked this weekend.’

It is understood that the M&S website could take weeks to go back online. Since the attack, the British high street retailer is thought to have hemorrhaged £1billion of value on the stock exchange.