John Lewis board rules out spinning off Waitrose

THE John Lewis Partnership today ruled out any plan to spin off successful supermarket arm Waitrose as it bounced back to profit after a rough period.

- Simon English

But the board does not feel results are strong enough to merit paying partners a bonus, for just the third time in its history.

Last year the bonus was also zero as the company fell to a loss of £78 million as chair Dame Sharon White fought to rescue a business which, while beloved, was struggling to compete with Amazon and other online retailers.

Today it reported a profit of £42 million, a £120 million turnaround which suggests a bonus was affordable. Instead, JLP is investing £116 million in partner pay, a rise of about 8%. Job cuts, of perhaps 11,000, have been mooted but not confirmed.

Sales across the group rose 1% to £12.4 billion. Waitrose sales rose 5% to £7.7 billion, while John Lewis sales fell 4% to £4/8 billion.

Cost cuts of £900 million are being sought by 2028.

White will move on by February next year, or perhaps sooner if a new chair is found.