For the year ending 25th January 2025, John Lewis reported a 73 per cent increase in profits to US $ 125.6 billion.
For the third year in a row, the company has decided not to renew its staff bonus in spite of this increase in profits. Rather, the company intends to use these benefits to improve employee remuneration and implement strategic business transformation.
For the retail giant, which owns Waitrose supermarket and department shop John Lewis, the figures represent a notable financial improvement.
The company’s intention to invest up to US $ 777 million in business transformation projects and US $ 148 million in higher compensation for its 69,000 employees is directly related to its decision to skip the staff bonus. A 7.4 per cent wage increase for staff members this year was recently revealed by the corporation.
According to the partnership’s financial figures, overall sales increased by 3 per cent to US $ 17 billion, indicating solid sales momentum. Additionally, the operational profit margin increased from 1.1 per cent to 2 per cent.
In particular, despite a difficult retail environment, John Lewis maintained steady sales at US $ 6.22 billion with an adjusted operating profit of US $ 58 million.
Through initiatives like the reinstatement of the “Never Knowingly Undersold” guarantee, greater customer service, and improved product ranges, the corporation credited this performance to strategic investments in customer value. Growth investments caused a minor drop in sales and operating profit in the first half of the year, but a significant recovery in the second half of the year led to higher sales and adjusted operating profit.
John Lewis is optimistic about its strategic orientation and expects more profitability increase in the fiscal year 2025–2026, despite the ongoing macroeconomic problems.
