John Lewis employees to share in bonus windfall

The Waitrose supermarket owner will hand out the equivalent of nearly eight weeks' wages to its 70,000 employees after the bonus pot topped expectations at 151.3m.

John Lewis reported profits before tax and bonuses rose 9.7 per cent to 306.6m for the year to January 30, while it said operating profits before property gains for last year were its highest yet at 389.5m.

The group has seen a healthy year despite the recession, with a particularly buoyant festive trading period for both Waitrose and John Lewis stores.

Total sales rose 6.5 per cent in the period to 7.4bn and have surged 13.5 per cent in the first five weeks of the new financial year. Chairman Charlie Mayfield said he was "delighted" that staff would "share fairly in the financial rewards of a successful year".

Each worker – from the weekend check out assistant to the chairman – receives the same percentage of salary as a bonus.

The average wage at the group is 9.25 per hour, which translates to 11,000 a year as many of its employees work part-time, and the average payout will be 2,100.

Waitrose was the group's star performer last year, with operating profits before property gains up 26.8 per cent to 268.2m as revenues rose 9 per cent to 4.5bn.

Like-for-like sales excluding petrol grew 3.6 per cent on a 52-week basis.

The supermarket chain made "enormous progress" in the year as the group invested in new shops and formats.

Waitrose added 25 new shops to its portfolio over the year and yesterday said it plans to continue expanding with a further 20 stores in 2010, creating 2,500 new jobs.

"This, combined with the tremendous success of Essential Waitrose has made the Waitrose brand more accessible to more customers in more parts of the United Kingdom," Mr Mayfield, said, adding that every week up to 400,000 extra people shopped at the supermarket.

Waitrose has tried to spread its appeal with the introduction of its Essential lower price range for cost-conscious shoppers, as well as a continued focus on luxury items.

In recent trading like-for-like sales growth has slowed to 2.8 per cent, but the firm said this was through a combination of much lower food inflation than last year, investment in lower prices in stores and the bad weather.