John Lewis on track to return to profit, says Dame Sharon White

In September, Dame Sharon said John Lewis would not return to a sustainable profit before the 2027/28 financial year.

Nish Kankiwala, the John Lewis Partnership’s chief executive, also said at the time performance was improving but “customers are feeling the pinch”. “Therefore, it’s difficult to give a more specific guidance in relation to numbers,” he added.

John Lewis is currently in the process of stripping £900m worth of costs out of the business.

Dame Sharon and Mr Kankiwala said in the memo sent to employees on Monday that layoffs would be a last resort, adding that the partnership was already having to replace 30,000 workers every year who were leaving.

They added: “We will make changes through natural turnover wherever possible.”

Dame Sharon made the announcement as she unveiled wider plans for John Lewis’s turnaround.

All staff in its Waitrose supermarkets will get customer service training for the first time in an effort to turnaround falling sales. The supermarket has previously only offered specialist training to some workers.

It follows criticism from shoppers over worsening customer service in its supermarkets, leading more people to switch to rival supermarket Marks & Spencer. John Lewis admitted in documents this week that it had “lost ground on customer sentiment”.