John Lewis leads the way
Despite the fact that the UK retail sector is under enormous pressure, retail giant John Lewis today announced pre-tax profits for the six month period ended July 31 which showed an increase of 28% to £110 million. Its seems that despite the doom and gloom surrounding the UK retail sector this company continues to go from strength to strength and is putting many of its major competitors to shame. So why is John Lewis doing so well?
It seems that John Lewis has picked up the habit of introducing new fashion lines at the right time as well as benefiting from TV sales during the World Cup and a number of other promotions which company has been behind. When you look back over the same period last year John Lewis, like so many other UK retailers, was struggling with profits down 50% and UK consumers unwilling, or in some cases unable, to spend on big-ticket items.
These are very impressive figures from John Lewis although even the management of this retail giant would admit that a repeat performance in the second half of 2010 would appear to be highly unlikely. If companies such as John Lewis begin to struggle then we can assume that the rest of the sector is having a very difficult time.
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