'The buzz is back', UK's John Lewis says turnaround plan is working
Underlying first-half loss narrows to 5 mln stg
Expects 'significantly higher' full-year profit
Says well set up for a positive peak trading period
Former Tesco exec Jason Tarry starts as chairman on Monday
Adds CEO quote from briefing paragraph 4, detail throughout
By James Davey
LONDON, Sept 12 (Reuters) -British retailer the John Lewis Partnership reported a 91% reduction in first-half losses and said it was on track to deliver "significantly higher" full-year profit as its turnaround plan gathers pace.
Its department store division in particular has had a difficult few years as it battled first the COVID pandemic and then the cost of living crisis. It closed stores and cut jobs.
But the partnership, which also runs the upmarket Waitrose supermarket chain, is now beginning to benefit from the turnaround plan launched by outgoing chair Sharon White in 2020 that sought to boost the appeal of its brands and invest in technology in addition to cost cuts.
"As customers told me recently at a shop, the buzz is back at the John Lewis Partnership," CEO Nish Kankiwala told reporters on Thursday.
Former Tesco executive Jason Tarry will succeed White as chairman of Britain's largest employee-owned business on Monday, and is tasked with driving the next phase of its modernisation.
This week, the department store division re-launched its 100-year old “Never Knowingly Undersold” pledge to customers, two years after dropping it, hoping a revamped version of the price guarantee will help drive growth.
Department stores boss Peter Ruis said its supply chain was in its best shape for years.
The partnership made a loss before tax and one-off items of 5 million pounds ($6.5 million) in the six months to July 27, compared with a loss of 57 million pounds in the same period last year. Total revenue rose 2% to 5.2 billion pounds.
The group often makes a first half loss as most of its profit is made in the run-up to Christmas.
The first-half performance reflected improved trading at Waitrose, where sales increased 5%, but more subdued trading at department stores, where sales fell 3%, hurt by the division's exposure to more discretionary items in a "challenging" market.
The partnership said it attracted half a million new customers in the first half to reach 23.1 million. It expects to invest 500 million pounds this year.
"These results confirm that our transformation plan is working," said Kankiwala.
"We’re well set up for a positive peak trading period and on target to significantly improve our performance for the full year.”
In its 2023/24 year, the partnership made an underlying pretax profit of 42 million pounds. Independent retail analyst Nick Bubb pencilled in 125 million pounds for 2024/25.
($1 = 0.7661 pounds)
Reporting by James Davey; editing by Elizabeth Piper, Mark Potter and Tomasz Janowski
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
