British retailer John Lewis said trading conditions would likely get tougher as tax hikes and public spending cuts hit shoppers, as it reported a 28 per cent rise in first-half profit.
The 146-year-old group, owned by its 70,000 staff, said today its strong first-half performance gave it confidence that both eponymous department stores and upmarket grocery chain Waitrose would cope well.
"Despite the economic headwinds, and tougher comparables in the second half, we remain confident that both Waitrose and John Lewis will continue to grow ahead of the market," chairman Charlie Mayfield said.
John Lewis, which runs 28 department stores, two "at home" shops and 231 Waitrose supermarkets, made a pretax profit of £111 million in the six months ended July 31st.
Sales rose 12.4 per cent to £3.8 billion, and were up 9.9 per cent in the first six weeks of its second half.
Reuters