John Lewis pays first annual staff bonus in four years as profits rise

John Lewis, the employee-owned retail group encompassing John Lewis and Waitrose, is paying its 69,000 employees a 2% bonus for the first time in four years. This decision follows a 5% increase in sales to £13.4 billion and a rise in underlying profits to £134 million for the year ending January 31st. Despite these gains, pre-tax profits fell to a loss of £21 million due to one-off costs. The bonus payout comes after a period of financial difficulty, including store closures and job cuts, during which bonuses were suspended. The company is currently implementing a turnaround plan, investing £800 million in store improvements and refocusing on its core retail business.

Discover articles with similar content using semantic similarity analysis.