Member Article

John Lewis Partnership announces 60% profit increase

Image by Mark Hillary

The John Lewis Partnership, made up of John Lewis and Waitrose, has revealed an overall 59.8% rise in profits, in figures released today.

The partnership’s interim results for the six months leading up to 28 July 2012 show Waitrose sales were up 6.6%, resulting in a 28.9% jump in profit, while John Lewis increased its sales by 12.8%, leading to a remarkable 186.6% profit surge.

The part-worker-owned company’s overall profit before tax was £144.5m, representing a £54.1m increase on the previous half year.

Waitrose has seen significant expansion with 10 new stores and a 50% increase in its online sales. John Lewis, meanwhile, has opened two new branches and both chains have expanded their “click and collect” service.

Chairman Charlie Mayfield identified one-off events, including the Diamond Jubilee, the build-up to the Olympics and the anniversary of the VAT increase, as contributing factors to the success.

He also said a strong performance by trading teams and the continuing development of “multi-channel operations”, such as online services, were significant factors in the encouraging figures.

Mayfield warned that growth would not continue at the same rate, but was still positive about the company’s prospects for the second half of its trading year.

He said: “Consumer demand remains fragile, but has stabilised and we continue to see opportunities to grow market share.

“Our rate of growth will remain positive but will be slower in the second half and, with further investment planned in that period to strengthen our business for the longer term, the rapid rate of profit increase is not expected to be carried through to the full year. This is consistent with our long term commitment to building the Partnership for the future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robert Cooper .