• Home
  • News
  • Business
  • John Lewis reports full year loss of 517 million pounds

John Lewis reports full year loss of 517 million pounds

By Prachi Singh

loading...

Scroll down to read more

Business

In a difficult year, the John Lewis Partnership said that it recorded a loss before tax of 517 million pounds, compared to a profit before tax of 146 million pounds in the previous year. The company added to a statement that revenue rose to 1.15 billion pounds compared to 1.06 billion pounds a year earlier.

“We wish we were in a position to pay a bonus and it has been a very difficult decision not to. The Partnership board believed that to do so would have held back our ability to protect the business in very difficult times and to lay the foundations to return to sustainable profit. We are committed to restarting bonus as soon as our profits before exceptionals reach 150 million pounds on a sustainable basis and our debt ratio is below 4 times, and to paying the voluntary real living wage when profits rise to 200 million pounds,” said Sharon White, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership.

John Lewis sales were down 4 percent year on year, after adjusting for the additional week in 2020/21: up 73 percent online and down 59 percent in store. In the first half of the year sales were down 10 percent as the loss of shop sales was not offset by the strong online growth. However, in the second half of the year online growth more than compensated for the closure of stores, with sales ahead of the year before by 1 percent.

“Hard as it is, there is no getting away from the fact that some areas can no longer profitably sustain a John Lewis store. Regrettably, we do not expect to reopen all our John Lewis shops at the end of lockdown, which will also have implications for our supply chain. We are currently in discussions with landlords and final decisions are expected by the end of March,” White added.

Image: John Lewis media centre

Coronavirus
John Lewis Partnership