John Lewis staff to share £151m in bonuses Business

John Lewis has handed annual bonuses of £151m to the staff. Photograph: David Levene

The John Lewis Partnership has handed a bigger-than-expected annual reward of £151m to the staff after enjoying a near-10% climb in profits.

The group, that operates 224 Waitrose supermarkets as well as twenty-nine dialect stores, voiced annual increase of £306.6m this morning, incompatible bonuses and tax.

The John Lewis organisation is a partnership owned by the 70,000 permanent staff, and all of them – from the authority Charlie Mayfield and the handling executive Andy Street down to emporium assistants and shelf-stackers – get the same commission payout. Analysts had approaching a reward pot of £140m.

The staff reward amounts to 15% of simple income this year, subsequent to to scarcely eight weeks" pay. Last year workers perceived 13%, whilst in 2008, prior to the retrogression set in, they were handed 20%.

About 1,000 partners were in the flagship Oxford Street store this morning, unresolved over the balconies, as the store"s handling executive Noel Saunders asked: "Will you be unhappy if it"s 8%?" and everybody booed. He asked "What if it"s in between 8% and 10%?" and everybody announced "No!" He afterwards did a countdown from 10. The pouch containing the reward figure was opened, between majority entertaining and clapping from staff, by Frank D"Souza, a partner for the last twenty-three years who functions in the seat dialect and has completed glorious sales notwithstanding the recession.

After a tough year on the emporium building majority people are going to provide themselves to a legal legal holiday with their bonuses. "I didn"t design 15%," pronounced Ali Cook, a physical education instructor in the beauty department. "We had to work unequivocally tough and lift together to grasp this."

Marcelo Cueva from Ecuador, who functions in the post room as an admin assistant, said: "I"m going to compensate off my debt and have a bit additional for a legal legal holiday in Italy. I wish to go behind to my nation but not nonetheless – may be with the subsequent bonus." Charlotte Clark, who functions on the emporium floor, is going to put the income towards horseriding lessons, and joked that "it"s not utterly sufficient for a horse".

Street is going to outlay the payout on a complicated landscape portrayal this Saturday. "This is a genuine bonus. It"s for people who are not fantastically well paid and enables them to share in the success of their business," he said.

"The mercantile meridian is unequivocally tough to read, but the sales given the begin of the year have been remarkable."

John Lewis sum sales were 17.5% higher in the initial five weeks, and up 14.9% on a like-for-like basis, whilst Waitrose sum sales have grown by 11.3% (2.8% like-for-like). "But all the interpretation we see about the marketplace shows it"s unequivocally flat," Street added.

Asked either he deserved his bonus, Street said: "The partners contingency decider either I"ve warranted my reward this year."

At the half-year, the group"s increase were down 20% and would have been far worse but the upmarket Waitrose chain, that defied expectations that shoppers would forsake to cheaper rivals during the downturn. Waitrose enjoyed like-for-like sales enlargement of 3.6% last year, with sum sales 9% higher at £4.5bn. The grocer outperformed the John Lewis dialect stores, where like-for-like sales grew by 2.3%, and sum sales strike £2.9bn.

Mayfield said: "Waitrose has done huge swell in the year with poignant investment in both cost and in the growth of new shops, new formats and vital partnerships. Each week up to 400,000 some-more people are right away selecting to emporium at Waitrose."

Waitrose introduced an Essentials range of over 1,400 simple dishes that has been renouned with shoppers, and has been the star actor between grocers over the past year. Last week, the handling director, Mark Price, pronounced that he directed to stand in sales to £10bn in a decade.

The John Lewis chain, well known for the "Never Knowingly Undersold" slogan, additionally had big enlargement plans, but has ditched the idea of opening 10 new dialect stores since of the recession. Instead, it is rising not as big John Lewis at Home stores in sell parks. The first, non-stop in Poole last October, has knocked about the targets and a second is programmed in Croydon. Two some-more were authorized last week, and if they additionally perform well, a serve 50 will be rolled out.