Latest news with #JasonTarry
The Guardian
06-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
John Lewis's chair Jason Tarry to earn more than £1.3m this year
John Lewis's chair Jason Tarry is to be paid more than £1.3m this year – about a fifth more than his predecessor, Sharon White – as he takes a more hands-on role. The former Tesco executive, who joined the group that owns Waitrose and a fleet of department stores in September last year, earned £415,000 in his first four and a half months in the job, including benefits and pension payments. That put him on a par with his predecessor who earned £900,000 in basic pay and £1.1m including pension and other benefits, according to the annual report from the John Lewis Partnership which the Guardian has seen. However, the company said Tarry's pay had been 'adjusted' from 1 April this year so that it was 'equalised to the amount paid to the chief executive officer to reflect the recalibration of the role'. John Lewis's chief executive Nish Kankiwala, who stepped down in March after two years in the role, is understood to have received between £1.3m and £1.35m in total remuneration last year – as the group's highest paid director. The chief executive role no longer exists at the retailer. That pay package was worth 53 times the average basic pay of a non-management John Lewis worker. A John Lewis Partnership spokesperson said: 'Following the merger of the CEO and chairman roles, the remuneration committee recommended aligning the chairman's compensation with that of the CEO. This reflects the chairman's expanded responsibilities in leading both the executive team and the partnership board.' The bump up in pay for Tarry comes as the company has increased hourly pay for workers who were given a 7.4% pay rise this year, to a minimum rate of £11.55 an hour. That rate of pay puts it behind major rivals such as Marks & Spencer. The group also reduced the average number of people it employs by about 4,000 to 69,000 people last year after a 3,500 reduction the year before, and skipped the bonus to workers for the fourth time in five years this March even after underlying annual profit rose from £42m to £126m. The group is also cutting costs by limiting benefits, such as a discount card, for former workers and selling off its staff golf club. From 31 August, any leavers with more than 15 years service will only retain their benefits for the same number of years they worked for the group. Until now, leavers must have accrued between 15 and 25 years' service and met certain other criteria to receive a lifetime discount and access to the group's staff hotels. A JLP spokesperson said: 'We're changing our leavers benefits to enable us to more than double the number of our Partners who are eligible. We're incredibly proud of this package, which rewards loyalty and goes well beyond those offered by competitors. The company is in the midst of a turnaround plan after diving to a loss during the Covid pandemic when it was forced to close all stores during lockdowns. It has pledged to open more Waitrose stores this year and invest in existing stores after closing 16 department stores and at least 20 Waitrose outlets and cutting thousands of head office jobs since the pandemic.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
John Lewis axes bonus for third year in a row despite profits surge
John Lewis has axed its staff bonus for the third year in succession despite making its biggest profits since 2022. Bosses at Britain's highest profile partnership, which runs John Lewis department stores and the Waitrose supermarket chain, said they had decided to prioritise an increases in regular pay and £600 million of investment over a bonus. Partners have not received a bonus for four out of the last five years, a period when the business has struggled with heavy losses, the impact of the pandemic lockdowns and the cost of living crisis. The last bonus was a 3% distribution for the 21/22 financial year when the partnership made a pre-tax profit of £181 million. Underlying pre-tax profits for the year to the 25 January tripled from £42 million to £126 million, the highest for three years, on sales of £12.8 billion, up 3%. Chairman Jason Tarry, a former senior Tesco executive who replaced Dame Sharon White last year, described the results as 'solid' but said there was 'much more still to do.' He said the decision to not pay a bonus had been 'difficult' but had been taken because of the need to restore base pay to competitive levels and invest in technology. He said 'in an ideal world' the business would pay a bonus as well as a pay rise and the it was 'determined' to bring back the bonus as soon as conditions allow. The business will face a £45 million increase in costs in the current year as a result of the rise in employer National Insurance contributions. Waitrose adjusted operating profit more than doubled to £227 million on sales up 4.4% at £8 billion. John Lewis made operating profits to £45 million on unchanged sales of £4.8 billion. The first half saw a 3% decrease in sales and a £24 million drop in profit due to investments in growth. A 'marked improvement' in the second half led to a 3% increase in sales and £8 million growth in profits. Tarry said: 'These are solid results, which show that our customers are responding well to our investments in quality products, value and service. We have made good progress with much more still to do. ' John Lewis operates 34 shops across the UK as well as Waitrose has 315 shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, including 47 convenience branches, and another 29 shops at Welcome Break locations
The Guardian
13-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
John Lewis staff miss out on bonus despite profits jump; Britain's housing market loses steam
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. Despite tripling full-year profits, the John Lewis Partnership has decided not to pay a staff bonus for the third year in a row. The owner of John Lewis and Waitrose, which is in the middle of a turnaround plan, reported a profit of £126m, with saes up 3% to £12.8bn in the year to 25 January. It has closed 16 department stores and at least 20 Waitrose outlets and cut thousands of jobs at head office. The retailer said it is prioritising investment over the bonus with plans to spend £600m on transforming the business. Jason Tarry, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said: These are solid results, which show that our customers are responding well to our investments in quality products, value and service. We have made good progress with much more still to do. The retailer, which employed about 69,000 people last year, has now skipped the bonus to workers in four out of the last five years, after diving to a loss during the Covid pandemic when it was forced to close stores during lockdowns. Britain's housing market had its slowest month in more than a year in February as a rush of buyers to complete before a tax break deadline ran out of steam. The monthly survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed buyer demand was weakest since November 2023, with a further slowdown expected in the months ahead. The volume of newly-agreed sales fell in February, with London-based professionals reporting a particularly noticeable dip in sales agreed during the month. Higher stamp duty costs for some home-buyers from 1 April are expected to dampen market activity. Stamp duty applies in England and Northern Ireland. The net balance of house prices, which measures the difference between surveyors reporting a rise and a fall, dropped to +11, down from January's +21 and a two-year high of +25 in December, and the lowest since September. However, a net balance of 47% expect property values to increase in the next 12 months. The housing market had picked up in previous months, boosted by lower mortgage rates and expectations of Bank of England interest rate cuts. RICS chief economist Simon Rubinson said: The UK housing market appears to be losing some momentum as the expiry of the temporary increase in stamp duty thresholds approaches. Some concerns are also being expressed by respondents about the re-emergence of inflationary pressures and the more uncertain geopolitical environment. That said, looking beyond the next few months, sales activity is seen as likely to resume an upward trend with prices also moving higher. Turning to the rental market, he said: Meanwhile, despite a flatter trend in demand for private rental properties, the key RICS metric capturing rental expectations is still pointing to further increases, demonstrating that the challenge around supply spans all tenures. Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, explained: The window of opportunity has effectively slammed shut on buyers, because even in February they knew there was next-to-no chance of getting a sale sorted before the end of the stamp duty holiday. Unsurprisingly, it has sucked some of the life out of the market. House prices have continued to rise, but not as quickly, and agents are fairly convinced we'll be in this lull for a while yet. Asian stock markets are in the red, as optimism over cooling US inflation gave way to worries about the economic impact of Donald Trump's trade tariffs. Japan's Nikkei gave up earlier gains to dip slightly while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 0.7% and the Shenzhen exchange in China lost nearly 1%. Stock futures are suggesting a lower open in Europe and on Wall Street later. Gold rose by 0.5% as high as $2,947.06, approaching a record high hit on 24 February of $2,956.15. The Agenda 10am GMT: Eurozone industrial production for January 12.30pm GMT: US Producer prices for February; initial jobless claims for week of 8 March German parliament to debate borrowing bonanza Share
The Guardian
13-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
John Lewis profits triple to £126m but hopes for staff bonus dashed again
The owner of John Lewis and Waitrose has tripled profits to £126m but workers at the staff-owned retail group have missed out on a bonus for a third year in a row. The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) said sales rose 3% to £12.8bn in the 12 months to 25 January 2025, as underlying profit rose from £42m. However, the company said it was prioritising investment over the bonus with plans to spend £600m on transforming the business. Jason Tarry, the chair of the John Lewis Partnership, said: 'These are solid results, which show that our customers are responding well to our investments in quality products, value and service. We have made good progress with much more still to do.' The retailer, which employed about 69,000 people last year, has now skipped the bonus to workers in four out of the last five years, after diving to a loss during the Covid pandemic when it was forced to close stores during lockdowns. The group is in the midst of a tough turnaround plan, in which 16 department stores and at least 20 Waitrose outlets have been closed and thousands of head office staff jobs cut. It had been hoped that Thursday's annual results, the first presented by the new chair and former Tesco executive, Tarry, after six months in the role, would confirm the cash reward for workers. However, John Lewis is focusing on upgrading its stores and improving weekly pay for its staff, having announced a 7.4% pay rise last week to a minimum of £12.40 an hour last week.
Reuters
31-01-2025
- Business
- Reuters
UK's John Lewis says on track for profit growth after report of weak trading
LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - British retailer the John Lewis Partnership said on Friday it remained on track to deliver "significantly higher" annual profit after a media report that it had told staff it was unlikely to hit an internal target. The Telegraph cited internal documents from the partnership saying it was now unlikely to achieve hoped-for profits of 131 million pounds ($163 million) for the year to end-January 2025. The newspaper said the partnership blamed 'lower consumer confidence and weaker than expected market confidence' for both its John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarket chain missing their sales target in the month to Dec. 21 - a period that does not cover the key Christmas trading days and new year sale period. In response to the article, a partnership spokesperson said: "As we said in September, we remain on track to deliver full year pre-exceptional profits significantly above the 42 million pounds we reported in 2023/24 and we will update on our performance at our results in March.' In September, the employee-owned partnership reported a reduction in first-half losses to 5 million pounds. Former Tesco (TSCO.L), opens new tab executive Jason Tarry succeeded Sharon White as chair of the partnership in September. The partnership's department store division in particular has had a difficult few years as it battled first the COVID pandemic and then a cost of living crisis. It closed stores and cut jobs. But it said in September, it was beginning to benefit from the turnaround plan launched by White in 2020 that sought to boost the appeal of its brands and invest in technology in addition to cutting costs. Full-year results are scheduled for March 13. Official data published on Jan. 17 showed overall UK retail sales unexpectedly fell in December.
