// John Lewis chair Sharon White reassures council members of her long-term plans for the Partnership
// She said: “I want to be absolutely categorical, the John Lewis Partnership will always be an employee-owned business”
John Lewis chair Sharon White sought to reassure doubts about her long-term plans for the Partnership ahead of a vote of confidence that she narrowly won on Wednesday.
In her opening remarks to the council, White addressed concerns that she was looking at seeking external investment for the business which would dilute the 100% employee-owned mutual model.
“I want to be absolutely categorical, the John Lewis Partnership will always be an employee-owned business,” she said.
“No ifs, no buts. There’s absolutely no question of demutualisation.”
She said the Partnership would consider external investment if at any point it was “unable to fund all our plan through our own means”.
While she did not deny the retailer was exploring external financing options – having posted a £234m loss in its latest financial report – she insisted any solution would need to align with the company’s founding principles.
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“Any funding of the partnership has to be consistent with the 1929 and 1950 trust settlements that gifted the partnership to partners.
“They are as binding as the legislation that’s passed by parliament.
“The business is for the benefit of its members and the benefit of partners and that has the force of legislation.
She added that “nobody can change that and nobody should dare to change that”.
The partnership hired its first ever chief executive, Nish Kankiwala, in March in a move to help the business “thrive for another century”.
She said his appointment would “speed the return to profit and, most importantly, speed the return to higher pay and greater return to partners that we all want to see”.
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