British retailer the John Lewis Partnership said it remained on track to deliver 'significantly higher' annual profit after a media report that it had told staff it was unlikely to hit an internal target.
The Telegraph cited internal documents from the partnership saying it was now unlikely to achieve hoped-for profits of £131 million (€156.6 million) for the year to end-January 2025.
The newspaper said the partnership blamed 'lower consumer confidence and weaker than expected market confidence' for both its John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarket chain missing their sales target in the month to 21 December – a period that does not cover the key Christmas trading days and new year sale period.
'On Track For Profit Growth'
In response to the article, a partnership spokesperson said, "As we said in September, we remain on track to deliver full year pre-exceptional profits significantly above the £42 million we reported in 2023/24 and we will update on our performance at our results in March.”
In September, the employee-owned partnership reported a reduction in first-half losses to £5 million (€6 million).
Former Tesco executive Jason Tarry succeeded Sharon White as chair of the partnership in September.
The partnership's department store division in particular has had a difficult few years as it battled first the COVID-19 pandemic and then a cost-of-living crisis. It closed stores and cut jobs.
But it said in September, it was beginning to benefit from the turnaround plan launched by White in 2020 that sought to boost the appeal of its brands and invest in technology in addition to cutting costs.
Full-year results are scheduled for 13 March 2025.
