The John Lewis Partnership has reported a significant rise in first half pre-tax profits on the back of strong sales at Waitrose, online and a 19.3% rise in fashion sales.
The company said that gross sales reached £3.8bn, up 12.4%, with operating profit of £145.2m, up 15.1%. Profit before tax rose 28% to £110.5m.
Charlie Mayfield, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said: “This has been a strong first half performance by the Partnership. We took decisions during the recession to invest in existing shops, in new formats, in multi-channel and in ‘value’ and we are now seeing the benefits coming through.
“John Lewis traded well ahead of expectations, with johnlewis.com growing at twice the market rate and excellent growth in fashion. This breadth of innovation and investment across the Partnership is a testament to the customer focus and ambition of all our Partners,” he said.
John Lewis stores saw gross sales rise 14.5% to £1.38bn.
Fashion sales grew by 19.3%, boosted, the company said, by further brand introductions.
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By GlobalData“The high street shops recovered strongly during the half year, but online sales were at the heart of John Lewis’ performance with 36.1% growth against a market performance of 16.7%,” the company said.
For full details of JPL’s results, click here.
