Waitrose parent company, the John Lewis Partnership, has reported a 26% fall in profits to £96m, for the half year ending 1 August 2015.
Waitrose parent company, the John Lewis Partnership, has reported a 26% fall in profits to £96m, for the half year ending 1 August 2015.
The fall is mainly being attributed to increased pension costs.
At Waitrose like-for-like sales fell by 1.3%, the first fall for seven years. However, the group said that customer numbers at Waitrose had increased by 7% during the six-month period. In addition, it had, on average, 280,000 more customer transactions each week compared to the same period last year.
Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, Sir Charlie Mayfield, said: “This has been a solid first half for the Partnership in a difficult market. Both Waitrose and John Lewis are growing sales and increasing market share.”