John Lewis again in revenue – however there’s STILL no employees bonus

Under hearth: Chairman Dame Sharon White

John Lewis is ready to report a shock return to revenue this week because it plans a serious spherical of job cuts.

Figures due on Thursday are anticipated to point out that three consecutive years of losses on the retailer large have been reversed.

But the 76,000 employees who personal the enterprise behind the John Lewis malls and grocery store Waitrose are once more in line to obtain no bonus.

The swing in monetary fortunes is a lift for the group’s under-fire chairman Dame Sharon White.

She beforehand warned that John Lewis wouldn’t return to a sustainable revenue earlier than the 2028 monetary yr.

Experts mentioned the principle cause for turning a revenue in 2023 was the impression of an aggressive £900 million cost-cutting programme somewhat than a fillip in gross sales at both Waitrose or the malls.

Both the grocery store and the division retailer have suffered from years of underperformance.

This was exacerbated by the cost-of-living disaster.

In meals, Waitrose has misplaced market share and is about to be overtaken by a revived Marks & Spencer.

The malls have struggled since White ditched the enterprise’s ‘by no means knowingly undersold’ worth promise.

Nick Bubb, an analyst at unbiased funding analysis firm Hardman & Co, mentioned the cost-cutting programme had began to take impact within the second half of final yr.

He has pencilled in income of £25 million for the yr to January 2024, in comparison with a £234 million loss after one-off objects the earlier yr.

But in an indication that John Lewis just isn’t but out of the woods, employees will miss out on a bonus for the third time in 4 years.

In a video message earlier this yr, White (pictured) instructed them to arrange for ‘fairly huge adjustments and fairly daring adjustments’.

John Lewis ‘will greater than break even this yr,’ she added. It is contemplating slicing its workforce by 11,000 – or a tenth – over the subsequent 5 years and lowering redundancy pay-offs. But additionally it is elevating the pay of store flooring employees by 10 per cent to a minimal of £11.65 an hour throughout the UK and £12.89 inside London from subsequent month.

This week John Lewis might also give an replace on the hunt to exchange White, 56, who’s standing down after 5 years as chairman. This is the shortest tenure within the partnership’s close to 100-year historical past. She was the primary lady to steer John Lewis, however confronted controversy after she thought of breaking the historic employee-owned construction of the partnership by promoting a stake to exterior traders to boost cash to place into the enterprise. That plan, nonetheless, was subsequently dropped.

Her lack of retail expertise and her civil service background have been additionally attacked, as have been her plans to broaden into monetary providers and property earlier than the core retail actions have been mounted.