The John Lewis Partnership, home to Waitrose and John Lewis, has reported a significant improvement in first half results.

Two years of consistent progress against key financial and customer metrics show that its plan “is working”, with the Partnership on track to deliver significantly higher profit for the full year 2024/25 compared with last year.

Unaudited Interim Results for the 26 weeks ended 27 July 2024, Partnership sales were £5.9bn, up by 2% from a year earlier, while revenue was up 2% to £5.2bn. Loss before exceptional items has improved from £57m this time last year to £5m in the 26 weeks to 27 July 2024. Loss before tax was £30m, an improvement of £29m on 2023/24. “We expect further profit growth in the second half, when we typically generate a significantly higher proportion of our profit,” the group said.

During the half, John Lewis sales were down 3% at £2bn amidst a slower external environment for general merchandise. Adjusted operating profit was down £24m year-on-year. “Lower demand for ‘big ticket’ items saw softer Home sales,” the group added.

Nish Kankiwala, Chief Executive Officer of the John Lewis Partnership, said: “I want to thank all our Partners for their hard work during the half, and thank our customers for supporting our loved brands. These results confirm that our transformation plan is working and we expect profits to grow significantly for the full year, a marked improvement from where we were two years ago.

“We continue to invest heavily in quality, service and value, and customers are responding well – with more people shopping with us and customer satisfaction increasing. While we have much more to do, we’re well set up for a positive peak trading period and on target to significantly improve our performance for the full year.”