UK retailer the John Lewis Partnership reported a 91% reduction in first half losses and said it was on track to deliver “significantly higher” full-year profit as its turnaround plan gathers pace.
Former Tesco executive Jason Tarry is set to succeed Sharon White as chairperson of the company this month.
While White steered the partnership – which runs John Lewis department stores and the Waitrose supermarket chain – through the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, Tarry has been tasked with driving the next phase of the company’s modernisation.
This next step will include a focus on the group’s core retail business and growth.
Department Store
This week, the department store division relaunched its 100-year-old “Never Knowingly Undersold” pledge to customers, two years after dropping it, hoping a revamped version of the price guarantee will help drive growth.
The partnership said on Thursday it made a loss before tax and one-off items of £5 million in the six months to 27 July, versus a loss of £57 million in the same period last year.
Total revenue rose 2% to £5.2 billion.
The group often makes a first half loss as most of its profit is made in the run-up to Christmas.
Its department store business in particular has had a difficult few years that has seen stores close and jobs cut.
'Our Transformation Plan Is Working'
The first-half performance reflected improved trading at Waitrose, where sales increased 5% but subdued trading at department stores.
Sales in the department stores fell 3% hurt by their exposure to more discretionary items.
The partnership said it attracted 0.5 million new customers in the half-year to reach 23.1 million.
It expects to invest £500 million this year.
Chief executive of the group Nish Kankiwala said, “These results confirm that our transformation plan is working.
“While we have much more to do, we’re well set up for a positive peak trading period and on target to significantly improve our performance for the full year.”
Kankiwala did note, however, that the environment for customers remained “uncertain.”
In its 2023/24 year, the partnership made an underlying pretax profit of £42 million.
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