Record bonus pot for John Lewis staff

Staff at retailer John Lewis are to share a record bonus pot of £181.1 million after annual profits rose 19 per cent.

The payout from the partnership, which is co-owned by its 69,000 employees, is 18 per cent higher than last year.

The amount is equivalent to more than ten weeks' pay - or a fifth of salary - for each member of staff - an average of £2,625.

The department stores and Waitrose supermarkets retailer's profits before partnership bonus and tax for the year ended January 26 were up £59.7 million to £379.8 million while group sales rose 6.3 per cent to £6.8 billion.

Charlie Mayfield, chairman of John Lewis Partnership, said: "The partnership has had a successful year in a challenging trading environment.

"While we expect trading conditions to continue to be challenging in the year ahead, we are confident that the diversity of our business and our Partnership model makes us resilient and able to perform well even in the most testing market conditions."

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