John Lewis returns to revenue however employees miss out on bonus once more

John Lewis reported a shock return to revenue after a ‘challenging’ yr on Thursday, however the retail large won’t pay its employees a bonus for the second yr in a row.

The partnership reported a pre-tax revenue of £56 million, in contrast with a £234million loss final yr, due to an aggressive £900million cost-cutting programme within the wake of three consecutive years of losses.

Chair Sharon White mentioned John Lewis had made ‘vital progress’, giving the group the monetary headroom to speculate, and she or he expects ‘earnings to develop additional’ in 2024.

John Lewis reported a shock return to revenue after years of underperformance

Despite a ‘challenging year for the sector’ John Lewis mentioned that 1,000,000 extra prospects shopped in its shops final yr, spending £12.4billion, up 1 per cent on 2023.

White added: ‘This shows our plan is working, while we know there’s much more to do. Our improved performance has been supported by our customers’ love for both brands, with more people choosing to shop with us than ever before, and our Partners’ commitment to delivering excellent customer service.’

Sales at Waitrose had been up 5 per cent to £7.7billion however market share has continued to say no as a consequence of the price of dwelling disaster.

John Lewis shops have additionally struggled and whereas gross sales in style had been up, general income was dragged decrease by house and expertise. It reported income of £4.8billion, down 4 per cent on the earlier yr.

The retail partnership introduced it could not be paying its employees a bonus for the second yr in a row.

The partnership mentioned: ‘As employee-owners, we have a shared responsibility to ensure the Partnership is sustainable into the long-term. We’ve consistently said that at this point in our transformation, this is best served by investing in our retail businesses and in Partners’ base pay. 

‘So after careful consideration we do not believe it would be right to award a Partnership Bonus this year. We are increasing overall pay by £116m in 2024 – a record investment.’

In a video message earlier this yr, White informed employees to organize for ‘quite big changes and quite bold changes’.

It is contemplating reducing its workforce by a tenth over the subsequent 5 years and lowering redundancy pay-offs. But additionally it is elevating the pay of store flooring staff by 10 per cent to a minimal of £11.65 an hour throughout the UK and £12.89 in London.