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What a difference a week makes for Lewis

Mar 1 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

DEPARTMENT store chain John Lewis bounced back from a surprise trading dip to report weekly sales growth of 2.7%.

The improvement to £45.9m came a week after the group detailed one of the “toughest weeks in recent memory”, with a drop of 3.4% on a year earlier.

John Lewis said the figure for the week to February 23 represented a welcome return to growth, but added that February as a whole had been soft.

Managing director Andy Street said: “Our four-week figure of 1.7% is a slowdown from the cracking December and January form, but is, we suspect, still very respectable against the market.”

The group is due to report annual results on Thursday, having seen pre-tax profits jump 50% to £146m in the six months to July 28.

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