John Lewis: ‘Transformation on track’ but chain still in the red
The John Lewis Partnership has reported an improved set of half-year results and has said it is on target to significantly boost its performance for the full year.
The iconic UK name, which also owns Waitrose, said sales topped £5.9bn in the 26 weeks ended 27 July, up by two per cent year on year.
Its loss before tax halved from £59m to £30m, while total revenue reached £5.2bn, up by two per cent year on year.
John Lewis typically generates a significantly higher proportion of its profit in the second half of the year, particularly over the Christmas ‘golden quarter’.
Waitrose outperformed the market, with sales up five per cent and adjusted operating profit growth of £75m.
The retailer has suffered over the past year due to high inflation and increased labour costs, as well as competition from peers like M&S.
However, JLP said its transformation is “on track”. It said it had onboarded 0.5m new customers in the last six months and invested £0.5bn into the business, particularly in technology.
Nish Kankiwala, Chief Executive Officer of the John Lewis Partnership, said: “I want to thank all our Partners for their hard work during the half, and thank our customers for supporting our loved brands.
“These results confirm that our transformation plan is working and we expect profits to grow significantly for the full year, a marked improvement from where we were two years ago.
“We continue to invest heavily in quality, service and value, and customers are responding well – with more people shopping with us and customer satisfaction increasing. 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.”