Waitrose remains on track for a “significant improvement” in profits, it has claimed, despite widespread reports that the supermarket has missed Christmas and annual profits targets.
The Telegraph first reported that the John Lewis Partnership had informed partners that it had missed its full-year target of £131m. The internal memo cited “lower consumer confidence”, which had affected sales at both Waitrose and John Lewis in the month to 21 December.
Waitrose has confirmed the figure came from a monthly sales update. However, it did not include key days of Christmas or new year’s sales. The figure is understood to be an internal goal set by John Lewis, which was decided upon more than a year ago, before JLP’s 2024 annual results update.
Unlike its rivals, Waitrose typically does not publish full Christmas sales in January. Instead, it waits until the John Lewis Partnership publishes annual results in March.
Figures published by Kantar in January showed that Waitrose’s Christmas sales were relatively flat, with year-on-year sales growing 2.1%. Online sales were flat, and sales at its Little Waitrose convenience stores fell 18% compared with the previous year.
In comparison, key rival M&S’s Christmas sales grew 8.7%, according to Kantar.
“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 and we will update on our performance at our results in March,” a JLP spokeswoman said.
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