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John Lewis hailed the effects of its turnaround efforts as the operator of department stores and Waitrose supermarkets reported a narrowing of losses and a slight increase in half-year sales.
The employee-owned company said losses before tax had fallen to £30mn in the six months to July 27 from £59mn a year earlier, while group sales were up 2 per cent to £5.2bn.
Chief executive Nish Kankiwala said the results confirmed that “our transformation plan is working” and that the company expected “profits to grow significantly for the full year, a marked improvement from where we were two years ago”.
The company in March reported pre-tax profit of £56mn for the year to January, compared with a £234mn loss in the previous 12-month period.
The group has been seeking to turn its fortunes around and modernise its shops after three years of losses and no staff bonuses.
Sales at Waitrose rose by 5 per cent to £3.2bn in the period, while at John Lewis they fell by 3 per cent to £2bn.
The supermarket chain “delivered strong profit growth” in the first half, the company said, with performance at the department store business remaining more challenging.
It said it managed to make further savings of £78mn from simplifying the business, delivering £500mn in savings since January 2021 as part of a target of £900mn by 2026.
This month it welcomes new chair and Tesco veteran Jason Tarry, who is succeeding Dame Sharon White after five years in charge. She has had to contend with a pandemic and a period of high inflation, while trying to improve trading amid fierce competition from rivals and criticism that she lacked the retail skills to turn the business around.
The results come after the announcement last week that John Lewis would bring back its 100-year-old “never knowingly undersold” price promise two years after it was ditched by management.
It previously also watered down targets to derive almost half of its earnings from outside retail by 2030 — a key plank of White’s strategy.
