John Lewis Partnership is reported to have recorded lower sales and profits than expected in the lead-up to Christmas.
Internal documents, first seen by The Telegraph, said “both John Lewis and Waitrose missed their sale targets”.
The partnership cited “lower consumer confidence and weaker than expected market confidence” for falling short of the target in the month to December 21.
Despite the performance, it claimed it had outperformed rivals. However, the partnership’s festive trading will still be viewed as a setback as it is in the process of a turnaround after hiring former Tesco UK and Ireland boss Jason Tarry as a chair.
Both John Lewis and Waitrose recorded a pre-tax profit of £56m in their latest full-year results last year. This was compared to a loss of £234m in the previous year.
Its next full-year results will be published in March.
A John Lewis spokesman said: “As we said in September, we remain on track to deliver full-year pre-exceptional profits significantly above the £42m we reported in 2023/24.”
It has been reported, however, that it could miss its more ambitious internal target of £131m in profit – a figure that was previously unpublished.
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