John Lewis keeps bonus freeze despite profit jump | Global News Avenue

Retailer John Lewis said its employees will receive bonuses for the third consecutive year despite reporting an increase in annual profits.

Employee-owned The retail partnership also includes the Waitrose supermarket chain, which he said profits rose 73% last year to £97 million.

However, it did not restore employee bonuses, saying it would invest in its business and workers’ salaries.

Chairman Jason Tarry said he was “decided to pay the bonus as soon as possible” but “it will depend on where we were at the time.”

John Lewis has no specific threshold or standard to restore the bonus, company sources added.

The John Lewis partnership, which has about 69,000 employees, said earlier this month that storefront staff will receive a 7.4% salary this year.

But this is the fourth time that John Lewis has not paid the bonus.

A series of freezes began in 2020, the first time they were canceled since 1953 – when the Covid Lockdown store closed, it was since 1953.

Waitrose’s sales rose 4.4% to £8 billion in the year, and sold more of its own branded products.

But John Lewis’s sales were the same as last year.

John Lewis said that while it hopes the economic environment is “challenging for our customers and our business” over the coming year, there is still confidence that it can boost profits.

Bloomberg intelligence analyst Charles Allen said the lack of bonuses was “signed”.

“I also think we have to put another big raise into practice, which is consistent with the increase in the minimum wage.

“Of course, although partners can’t see it, employer state insurance has also seen a lot of growth.”

John Lewis is Signator of the letter to the government Last year, the person said that the increase in employer’s state insurance contributions will make job losses on the High Street “inevitably”.

Mr Tari said on Thursday that there will be a loss of work in the coming year, but these people will come as far as possible through people leaving their jobs and then do not take the position, with existing employees being redeployed rather than redundant.

He added that the increase in employer national insurance costs will cost the business £40 million in the coming year from April.

After a tough few years of layoffs and closing several stores, John Lewis has been trying to win customers through a recovery plan.

In March 2024, it reported its first annual profit after years of losses, but also said it would not pay employee bonuses.

Last September, it gave up for two years and brought back its “never obvious” price commitment.

Before initially making a commitment, employees were still using pencils, spreadsheets and traveling to other stores to track competitor prices.

The company said it now uses artificial intelligence to track competitor prices in physical stores and online and view menu trends to help it decide its own menu.