John Lewis in gloomy mood despite 60% leap in profits
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Your support makes all the difference.John Lewis today warned that the economy will continue to "bump along the bottom" for the foreseeable future despite a healthy bounce in its own profits.
The department store and Waitrose supermarket group, which saw its pre-tax profits halved last year, reported a 60 per cent rise in the first six months of the year to £144.5m.
Chairman Charlie Mayfield said the recovery had been helped by "terrific product launches", Waitrose's success in repositioning itself as a good value grocer, and the strong online performance. There had also been a boost from the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which helped the new branches of John Lewis and Waitrose at the Westfield Stratford City shopping centre next to the Olympic Park.
The second half of the year had started well, with sales across the partnership up 10.3 per cent on last year. However, this would slow down further into the autumn as sales figures came up against strong comparable numbers from last year.
Mr Mayfield said: "We've been saying for some time that we are bumping along in a period of slow growth and I stick to that view. Slightly above or below zero is where we are. It is not really recession and nothing like as bad as it was a few years ago. "
Sales across the partnership were up 8.7 per cent at £4.4bn in the six months to July 28. For the department stores they were 12.8 per cent higher at £1.6bn. At Waitrose sales rose 6.6 per cent to £2.8bn while operating profit was 28.9 per cent higher at £142m.
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