Double digit profit rise for John Lewis

The employee-owned retailer, which has a store in Barkers Pool in Sheffield, reported that its sales increased 11.5 per cent year-on-year to £63.6m in the week to June 16.

The Sheffield store in isolation showed a 2.8 per cent increase year on year after showing a -0.2 per cent change up to that week.

Other stores in the group showed a decline in sales for that week with Cardiff showing a 15.1 per cent decrease while Poole and Croydon showed the largest increases of 29.3 per cent and 22.1 per cent respectively.

Overall, sales of electricals and home technology items jumped 34 per cent, homeware sales were up 8.7 per cent and fashion sales rose one per cent.

The retailer has been outperforming the wider market as its generally more affluent customers have been less impacted by Britain’s double-dip recession.

Improvements to product and service are also credited with striking the right note with consumers. The firm also has more shops than last year and higher prices from inflation have impacted on the figures.