John Lewis’ Sharon White stays firm on sustainable profit goal for 2026

Following hefty criticism and after scraping by a vote of confidence, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) Sharon White held a speech for the Employee Ownership Association, where she outlined the current affairs of the company and touched on its plans for the future.

During the speech, White called the JLP business model an “ongoing experiment”, citing the words of Spedan Lewis, the founder of the company.

In relation to this, she noted various changes the company has experienced, particularly between 2000 and 2015 when it saw rapid expansion, growing its Partner numbers from 40,000 to 90,000 and doubling its John Lewis store count from 25 to 43.

It was also during this period that its sales grew from four billion to 10.8 billion pounds, while profit per partner fell and net debt rose to 3.7 billion pounds.

Following periods saw the retailer forced to reevaluate, as partner bonuses lowered and the cost-of-living crisis came into play.

White continued: “Regrettably, many retailers did not make it. The John Lewis Partnership has come through – and has a clear plan for the future. The five-year Partnership Plan, which began in 2021, will get the Partnership back to sustainable profit.

“It aims for a broadly based business with brilliant retail at the core, built on excellent customer service, quality and ethics. Significant focus in the last three years has been on improving the business fundamentals.”

After outlining the various adaptations made to the model over recent years, including lowering the company’s store count and reducing its cost base, White also said that JLP would “continue to diversify”.

This could already be seen through the expansion of John Lewis’ financial services business, its build-to-rent operations and funding opportunities.

White did note that the scale of investment needed for areas like technology and supply chain was greater than before, adding that in order to fund its plan the board could be looking at whether external investment was needed while also considering employee-ownership.