Partnership reaps rewards as John Lewis shares out £151m

Published on Thursday 11 March 2010 20:16

TENS of thousands of John Lewis staff will share a £151 million bonus pot as the retail bellwether continues to power through the recession, posting bumper profits for 2009.

• John Lewis is owned by its 70,000 partners – who discovered yesterday they were to receive an extra 15% of their salary. Picture: PA

Partner bonuses will equate to 15 per cent of salaries, or nearly eight weeks' pay, averaging about 2,100 per person.

The firm, which also owns Waitrose, yesterday posted a 9.7 per cent rise in profits before tax and bonuses to 306.6m for the year to 30 January.

Total like-for-like sales at their three department stores in Scotland fell by 2.8 per cent, but Edinburgh branch managing director Barry Matheson said the figure was in line with the drop throughout the UK as a whole, when online sales were stripped out.

He said cuts in the financial services industry and the tramworks had hit the Edinburgh store, while the Aberdeen branch had suffered from a decline in the oil price and the subsequent fall in exploration company activity.

But Matheson noted that Edinburgh had started the current financial year with sales ahead of budget and up on 2009 levels, although Aberdeen had been badly hit by the prolonged heavy snow in outlying areas.

Plans are being drawn up for John Lewis to continue trading during the proposed redevelopment of the St James Centre in Edinburgh, Matheson added.

Big sellers last year in Glasgow included iPods, Vera Wang china and Molton Brown toiletries, while Edinburgh reported an 11.5 per cent rise in sales of sewing machines as customers took to its "make do and mend" promotion. Aberdeen reported strong sales of eBooks and cushion covers featuring The Beatles.

Throughout the UK, John Lewis said 2009 had been a year of "profound change" for the group, with the expansion of the Waitrose chain and a resilient performance at the department stores.

The group has some 70,000 partners, including about 2,200 north of the Border.

Waitrose was the partnership's star performer, with operating profits before property gains up 26.8 per cent to 268.2m on gross revenues up 9 per cent to 4.5 billion. Like-for-like sales, excluding petrol, grew 3.6 per cent.

The supermarket chain made "enormous progress" in the year as the group invested in new shops. Group chairman Charlie Mayfield said: "This, combined with the tremendous success of Essential Waitrose, has made the brand more accessible to more customers in more parts of the UK."

Waitrose. which added 25 shops to its portfolio over the year, including one in Glasgow, to take its Scottish total to three, said it planned to continue its expansion with a further 20 stores in 2010, creating 2,500 jobs.

Meanwhile, department store gross sales were up 2.8 per cent to 2.9bn, and operating profits excluding property gains rose by 15 per cent to 165.9m.