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 set to become chairman
Adds detail in paragraph 4, CEO quotes in 9-11
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.
Former Tesco executive Jason Tarry is set to succeed Sharon White as chairman of the UK's largest employee-owned business this month.
While White steered the partnership, which runs John Lewis department stores and the upmarket Waitrose supermarket chain, through the COVID pandemic and then the cost of living crisis, Tarry has been tasked with driving the next phase of its modernisation focused on its core retail business and growth.
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.
The partnership said on Thursday it made a loss before tax and one-off items of 5 million pounds ($6.5 million) in the six months to July 27, versus 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. Its department store business in particular has had a difficult few years that has seen stores close and jobs cut.
The first-half performance reflected improved trading at Waitrose, where sales increased 5%, but subdued trading at department stores, where sales fell 3%, hurt by their exposure to more discretionary items.
The partnership said it attracted 0.5 million new customers in the half year to reach 23.1 million. It expects to invest 500 million pounds this year.
"These results confirm that our transformation plan is working," said CEO Nish Kankiwala.
"While we have much more to do, we’re well set up for a positive peak trading period and on target to significantly improve our performance for the full year.”
He did, however, note that the environment for customers remained "uncertain".
In its 2023/24 year, the partnership made an underlying pretax profit of 42 million pounds.
($1 = 0.7661 pounds)
Reporting by James Davey; editing by Elizabeth Piper and Mark Potter
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