The John Lewis Partnership achieved a pre-tax profit of £245 million for the year ending January 30, compared to £194.4 million the previous year, according to documents filed at Companies House.
The 26.3 per cent increase in the annual pre-tax profit came about despite a 28.4 per cent rise in pension operating costs to £245 million – offset by the group‘s clamp down on capital expenditure across its John Lewis and Waitrose outlets.
However, individual pre-tax profit figures for the two businesses were not disclosed in the files.
Waitrose reported a 0.8 per cent drop in operating profit to £232.6 million, but if property costs were taken out the operating profit figure would stand at a rise of 3.9 per cent.
The grocer also posted a 1.1 per cent increase on gross sales – or £6.5 billion – on the prior year, but there was a 1.3 per cent decrease in like-for-likes.
In the year to January 30, Waitrose launched 12 new stores across the UK, bringing its total 346.
Ten new Waitrose stores are expected to open in the year ahead.
Despite its rapid expansion, Waitrose managed to cut £224.5 million from its capital expenditure, a 42.2 per cent difference from the previous year.
Meanwhile, John Lewis‘s operating profits experienced in incremental 0.2 per cent rise to £250 million, but its gross sales spiked 4.4 per cent to £6.2 billion in the year to January 30.
Like-for-likes also climbed 3.1 per cent, while capital expenditure was cut down by 1.8 per cent to £227.7 million.
