LONDON, Sept 12 (Askume) – British retailer John Lewis Partnership reported a 91% drop in first-half losses and said it expected full-year profits to “increase significantly” as its turnaround programme accelerates.
U.K. Britain’s largest employee-owned company said on Thursday it lost 5 million pounds ($6.5 million) before tax and special items in the six months to July 27. Total revenue rose 2% to £5.2 billion.
Former Tesco executive Jason Terry will replace Sharon White as chairman this month.
White has led the partnership through the pandemic and subsequent cost-of-living crisis, while Terry is responsible for leading the next phase of the group’s modernisation, focusing on its core retail business and growth.
The partnership often loses money in the first half of the year as most of its profits are made before Christmas. Its department store business has faced particular difficulties in the past few years, with store closures and job losses.
First half results showed trading improved at Waitrose, with sales rising 5%, but trading remained slow in the department store division, with sales falling 3%, hit by more discretionary items.
Chief executive Nish Kankiwala said: “These results confirm that our transformation plan is working and we expect full-year profit to increase significantly, a significant improvement on two years ago.”
($1 = 0.7661 British pounds)
