John Lewis losses before tax narrowed in its half year but chair Dame Sharon White’s plan has been pushed back two years due to “inflationary pressures”.
Losses before tax and exceptional items were £57.3m, a 14% improvement on last year.
Total sales across the partnership were up 2% year on year, while 600,000 more customers shopped with John Lewis during the half.
Waitrose trading operating profit improved 16% to £504.4m over the half to 29 July whilst at John Lewis it fell back 6% to £277.1m.
The grocer’s sales were up 4% to £3.7bn, which was driven by average item price up 9%, as volumes dropped 5%.
Its investment in price had driven sales at the upmarket grocer. Its ‘New Lower Prices’ campaign achieved product sales growth of 12% and volume growth of 13%.
Waitrose will launch a third tranche of price cuts in the second half.
At John Lewis, sales were down 2% at £2bn. The department store said that customers continued to spend on themselves, with fashion up 3% and beauty up 2%, but big ticket spending was hit.
Home sales were down 5% and technology sales edged down 4%.
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The retail group said that despite the uncertainty in the economic outlook and consumer sentiment, it expects its full-year financial performance to improve versus the £77.6m pre-tax loss achieved last year.
Waitrose trading and further efficiency savings in the second half are expected to help boost its performance.
The results come after John Lewis advisors recently warned it faces “extreme challenges” in making money from its scheme to convert parts of its stores into housing.
Planning documents revealed the development could result in a negative return of £57m for the business.
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