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The owner of John Lewis and Waitrose has returned to profit after three years of annual losses, an early sign that chairman Dame Sharon White’s recovery plan is working.
The John Lewis Partnership reported a pre-tax profit of £56 million for the year to January, compared with a loss of £234 million a year earlier, on revenue of £12.4 billion, up by ‘1%. Profit before tax and extraordinary items was £42 million compared to a loss of £78 million a year earlier.
White said: “We have made significant progress over the past year to return the business to profitability and have achieved results that allow us to increase investment in our retail operations; we expect profits to grow further this year.”
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