The group, which is owned by staff and includes supermarket chain Waitrose, made a profit of £69m in the same period of the six months to July 30 last year. “No one could have predicted the scale of the cost of living crisis that has materialised, with energy prices and inflation rising beyond anyone’s expectations,” said Sharon White, chair of the John Lewis Partnership. “As a business, we’ve faced unprecedented cost inflation in grocery and general merchandise.” JLP warned that the outlook for the rest of the year was “highly uncertain due to the cost of living crisis and its impact on discretionary spending as well as the criticality of the Christmas trading period”. The group also announced additional support for its staff, known as associates, including a one-off living cost support payment of £500 for full-time employees. More details soon…
