John Lewis staff rewarded with 17% bonus

The John Lewis Partnership said its 84,700 employees would receive the equivalent of nearly nine weeks’ pay after increasing its total bonus pot to £210.8 million.

Each worker - from weekend check-out assistants to chairman Charlie Mayfield - receives the same percentage of salary as a bonus.

The employee-owned firm unveiled the haul after reporting pre-tax, pre-bonus profits of £409.6 million for the 12 months to January 26 and said the current year had started well, with like-for-like sales up 13.7% at its department store chain.

The results are a return to profits growth for the retail giant after it suffered a 4% fall the previous year, triggering the first bonus decline in three years.

Charlie Mayfield, chairman of John Lewis Partnership, said: “This has been a good year for the partnership with growth in sales and profit above our expectations.”

The group hailed its website as a key reason for its success, with johnlewis.com sales up 41% to £959 million and accounting for a quarter of trade, while online sales at Waitrose rose by 49% over the year.

Sales in its department store chain rose 10.5% on a like-for-like basis thanks to strong demand on johnlewis.com.

Stripping out the online effect, like-for-like sales rose 2.6% across its shops.

Comparable store sales rose 3.4% excluding petrol at its Waitrose supermarket arm, helped by its Brand Price Match offer.

The group said it benefited from an acceleration of sales growth in the final quarter, up 12% across the department stores, despite the snow disruption that hit many other retailers.

However it warned that sales growth would be slower this year as the market remains “subdued”.

John Lewis paid £125 million into its staff final salary pension scheme, but said it would be reviewing the fund over the next 18 months to two years to ensure it remains affordable.

The group, which is one of the few companies still offering a non-contributory, final salary pension scheme, stressed it was committed to maintaining a final salary pension and said the review would “ensure that it can remain fair to partners and sustainable from a business perspective”.

John Lewis has 39 department stores across the UK, 255 Waitrose supermarkets and 35 Waitrose convenience stores.

It opened four department stores during the year, as well as 11 main Waitrose branches and eight Little Waitrose shops.

The group last week announced it will invest more than £50 million in its stores this year as part of its commitment to “bricks and mortar” retailing, while it is also increasing its click and collect offering.

Last month it unveiled a deal with delivery and returns business CollectPlus to allow customers to return and collect online shopping at a network of 5,000 local shops and petrol stations.

But the move online will be at the expense of management jobs after it revealed plans in February to cut 325 department store manager posts over the next few years.