Marks & Spencer, the high street retailer, expects full-year adjusted pre-tax profit to be in line with market expectations, after a first half in which food powered ahead and clothing lagged.
Food margins are expected to finish the year ahead of 2024/25, the last full year before the cyber attack.
In Fashion, Home & Beauty, performance should improve in the second half now that stock availability has recovered.
More than £120 million of structural cost savings are planned for the year, building through the second half after costs were weighted towards the first.
Over the medium term, M&S is targeting mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth, with profit and earnings per share growing faster.
The retailer goes into Christmas after a solid October.
Adjusted pre-tax profit for the 26 weeks to 26 September was £403.2 million, up from £184.1 million a year earlier, when the cyber attack shut down online ordering.
That was still short of the £413.1 million made two years ago, which M&S put down to front-loaded cost growth and weaker clothing profitability.
Food sales rose 13.9% to £5.16 billion, with like-for-like sales, which strip out new and closed stores, up 11.7%.
Food volumes grew 11.9% in a flat market, and the operating margin rose to 5.6% from 5.1% two years ago.
Fashion, Home & Beauty sales rose 17.5% to £2 billion, but remained below the £2.03 billion achieved in 2024/25.
Its margin of 7.5% compares with 12% two years ago.
Womenswear was hit by gaps in core lines and sizes, a long hot summer kept shoppers off the high street, and a growing share of online sales pushed up fulfilment and returns costs.
Chief executive Stuart Machin said the clothing results "fell short of their potential" and that its transformation was still "in the foothills".
Ocado Retail, the online grocer half-owned by M&S, swung to an operating profit of £25.6 million from a loss of £3.1 million.
International sales rose 22.1%, helped by Zalando and Amazon marketplaces.
The business absorbed about £35 million of packaging taxes under the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, a levy on companies that put packaging on the market, alongside higher pay and National Insurance costs.
Net funds excluding lease liabilities rose to £374.7 million.
The interim dividend increases 16.7% to 1.4p.
