// John Lewis boss Dame Sharon White says current UK conditions have taken the UK ‘back to the 1970s’

// White warned John Lewis faces ‘unprecedented cost inflation’ after the retailer swung to a £99 million loss in its first half of the year

Soaring inflation may be having a bigger impact on John Lewis Partnership than the Covid-19 pandemic did its chairman Sharon White said.

“When margins start to decline, it hits us harder… The context in which we find ourselves takes us back to the 1970s,” said White in an interview at Bloomberg’s Equality Summit on Tuesday.

She said that higher staff levels at the John Lewis Partnership compared to its rivals alongside its employee-owned structure meant the crisis was “probably more profound” than the recent pandemic had been for the retailer.

The group, which owns the department store retailer and Waitrose, employs around 80,000 workers, making it one of the UK’s largest employers.

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The comments come weeks after the retailer swung to a £99 million loss in its first half as “unprecedented cost inflation” across grocery and general merchandise took its toll.

Last year, the retail group made a £69 million profit and said that customers are spending less in its stores as they battle soaring energy bills and other costs.

John Lewis Partnership said the outlook for the rest of the year is “highly uncertain” owing to the cost-of-living crisis and its impact on discretionary spending, particularly over Christmas.

Speaking at the Bloomberg event White added: “We will, over the next six to 12 months, face yet more difficult challenges, because inflation is clearly with us for some time.”

However, she said the recent move to reverse almost all the cuts in the mini-Budget and Kwasi Kwarteng’s departure as Chancellor was “an important step in the right direction” for stability.

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