Losses at the owner of John Lewis and Waitrose widened by more than 40% in the first half of the year as it struggled with higher costs and with shoppers feeling less confident about their money.
The John Lewis Partnership, which operates 36 department stores and more than 300 Waitrose supermarkets, said its pre-tax loss for the six months to 1 August climbed to £124m, compared with £88m in the same period in 2025.
Jason Tarry, the chair, said the drop reflected the company’s “continued investment in our transformation, a more challenging trading environment and the increased costs of doing business”.
Some of the higher costs included greater national insurance contributions, as well as “managing operations through the heatwaves”, JLP said.
The group is in the midst of a turnaround plan, in which 16 department stores and at least 20 Waitrose outlets have been closed and thousands of staff jobs cut.
Waitrose outperformed John Lewis, with sales across the supermarket arm up 4% while those at the department store chain fell 2%. Overall half-year sales rose 2% to £6.3bn.
The drop in profit comes after Peter Ruis, head of the department store arm, said last month he would step down after less than three years in the role. He has been replaced by Will Kernan, former boss of the River Island fashion chain.
In March the company felt confident enough to pay its 69,000 workers, whom it calls partners, a bonus – of 2% of salary – for the first time in four years, following a 6% rise in its underlying profit. Staff shared a bonus pot of £35m, worth about one week’s extra pay each.
However the retailer has since struggled with weak consumer spending this summer, as successive heatwaves deterred shoppers from heading to the high street, instead using online specialists, and the rising cost of living has hit spending on big-ticket items such as sofas and beds.
First-half sales at Waitrose grew 4% to £4.3bn, while at department stores sales dropped 2% to £2bn.
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JLP said it was “set up well for the second half”, which includes the peak Christmas trading period and when it typically makes the bulk of its annual profit.
John Lewis is one of the few remaining national department store chains, following the closure of Debenhams and Beales. This summer Harvey Nichols was bought out of administration by the owner of Sports Direct, Mike Ashley, who had said the Knightsbridge store was in a “death spiral”.
