Marks & Spencer expects to have its full online shopping service restored within the next four weeks, following the major cyber-attack that disrupted its systems in April.

Speaking at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), CEO Stuart Machin said: “Currently, half of online is open but not areas like click and collect. Within the next four weeks we are hoping for the whole of online to be fully on.”

The retailer, which resumed limited online orders in June, is still working to restore key services such as Click & Collect and next-day delivery. The attack, which locked up systems across the business and caused widespread disruption to store shelves and online operations, is expected to impact profits by an estimated £300 million – a loss only partially covered by insurance.

M&S plans to next focus on restoring operations at its Castle Donington distribution centre. “Then our focus will be getting the Donington site back and running,” Machin told shareholders.

“We’re hoping that by August we will have the vast majority of this behind us and people can see the full M&S.”

Chairman Archie Norman confirmed that systems were steadily being restored: “Every week new systems are coming back. Hopefully in a few weeks we’ll be humming – we’re hopeful we’ll be back to full operations very shortly.”

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More than 500,000 customers have had online orders cancelled or delayed due to the cyber-attack. M&S has since issued e-gift cards and apology emails to those affected. However, while online orders have resumed in England, Scotland and Wales, customers in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are still waiting for access.

The business relies on over 800 applications to run its digital operations – many of which had to be rebuilt from scratch. “Rebuilding does take time,” Norman said.