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John Lewis staff will not receive a bonus for the third consecutive year, despite the retailer reporting a substantial rebound in annual profits.
The employee-owned business, which operates both John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarkets, announced a 73 per cent surge in pre-tax profits to £97 million for the year ending January 25th. This represents a significant improvement on the previous year’s performance.
Underlying profits saw an even more dramatic increase, tripling to £126 million compared to £42 million the year before.
However, the company has chosen to prioritise investment in the business and staff pay rises over bonus payments.
John Lewis confirmed it would allocate an additional £114 million towards overall pay and earmark up to £600 million for investment. This decision affects approximately 73,000 employees.
It said: “After careful consideration, we have prioritised this investment over sharing a bonus this year.”
Jason Tarry, who took over as chairman of the John Lewis Partnership from Dame Sharon White last September, said: “We have made good progress with much more still to do.
“Looking forward, I see significant opportunity for growth from both our Waitrose and John Lewis brands.
“This will involve considerable catch-up investment in our stores and supply chain.”
The group said it expects a further rise in profits in the 2025-26 financial year, despite cautioning that it expects the wider economic backdrop “to be challenging for our customers and our business”.