Share Huge bonus as John Lewis profits £306m

The staff John Lewis will be a £ 151m bonus after trading company shares, the annual profit before tax up by 9.7% to £ 306.6m.

The owner of the supermarket chain Waitrose, said the bonus of approximately eight weeks pay for each employee.

John Lewis chairman Charlie Mayfield said the company was born out of the recession “in a stronger competitive position,” but he warned that 2010 would be difficult.

John Lewis, said gross sales increased by 6.5% to EUR 7.4 billion as it continues to take market share from competitors.

The company 70,000 employees – or partners, such as John Lewis calls them – a bonus pot of £ 151.3m, equivalent to about 15% share of their salary.

“Today’s findings contribute to the collective hard work of our partners into account,” said Mr. Mayfield. John Lewis’s model of co-ownership “, while clearly not a panacea, the partnership performance” is based, he said.

John Lewis, among whose activities 28 stores and 225 Waitrose supermarkets, saw profits fall in the first half of the year.

But this was offset by a strong performance in the period up to Christmas, with the trading partners to improve further during the first weeks of the year 2010.

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Mr Mayfield said: “This was a year of profound change in the partnership … we have to continue to invest, innovate and grow, resulting from the recession in a stronger competitive position.”

However, 2010 would still opt for the tough 146-year-old company, the company said in its annual statement.

“We expect more challenging trading in 2010, especially in the second half of the year.

“The expected withdrawal of monetary stimulus, higher taxes, with the possibility of higher interest rates and the impact of cuts in public expenditure for an uncertain outlook, the expected impact on consumer confidence,” warned the company.

In the twelve months to 30 Operating profit rose in January at the John Lewis’s department stores by 15% to £ 165.9m. At Waitrose, the UK’s fastest growing merchant, they jumped 27% to £ 268.2m.

Waitrose Profits were driven by the popularity of its more favorable “essential” series, which last March, and rapid online growth.

For the first five weeks of the new fiscal year, total sales were 13.5% higher, with department store sales rose by 17.5% and Waitrose sales rose by 11.3%.