£97m profit for John Lewis but no staff bonus

JOHN Lewis workers will be denied a staff bonus for the third year in a row, despite the retail giant’s profits leap- ing by 73%.

- Max Parry

The employee-owned business, which runs John Lewis department stores and the firm's Waitrose supermarket arm, posted pre-tax profits of £97million for the year to January 25.

Once exceptional one-off payments were removed from the figures, its profits had tripled to £126million from £42million a year ago.

But the group said "after careful consid- eration", instead of a bonus for its 73,000 workforce, it would "prioritise" another £114million in overall pay and up to £600million of invest- ment in the business.