John Lewis returns to profit but pays no staff bonus

John Lewis has revealed a pre-tax profit of £42m before exceptional items for the year ended 27 January 2024, up from a loss of £78m last year.

Despite the return to profit the Partnership will not pay out staff bonuses for the third time in four years.

The company stated that bonuses would not be paid as it was prioritising base salary over bonuses.

Overall, the partnership’s sales rose 1% to £12.4bn whilst the company’s total revenue jumped 2% to £10.8bn.

Waitrose sales increased by 5% to £7.7bn while its trading operating profit rose £170m up to £1.06bn.

Despite this, sales volumes at Waitrose fell 1.5% as average item prices rose 6.6% due to soaring inflation.

At John Lewis, sales dipped 4% to £4.8bn as a result of “weaker sales” in the home and technology departments, despite this it posted a £13m increase in its trading operating profit to £689m.

The Partnership stated that the overall growth can be put down to sales growth, gross margin rate improvement and sustainable productivity improvements.

The company invested £111m in productivity improvements across the year meaning it has now spent £420m on this since it began its Partnership plan in January 2021.

John Lewis plans to spend £542m in the coming year on modernising technology, refreshing shops and simplifying how the brand works.

The company stated: “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.”

Sharon White, John Lewis Partnership chair, added: “We have made significant progress in the last year to return the business to profitability and delivered results that allow us to increase investment in our retail businesses; we expect profits to grow further this year.

“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.”