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NEWS
JOHN LEWIS H1 SHAPED BY CUTS In its unaudited results for H1 (ended 31st July 2021), John Lewis Partnership said it had been forced to take “difficult but necessary decisions to reduce costs and improve competitiveness” at the start of its five-year plan to return the business to a sustainable profit of £400m a year. During the period, eight John Lewis stores were closed, and the consultation on the closure of an associated delivery hub is ongoing. The number of head office roles were reduced, and there are plans to have fewer managers in John Lewis, says partner and chairman, Sharon White: “This has been painful for the partnership. 80% of affected partners have found new roles in the partnership in the half, while retraining support has been available to partners to secure work outside. We are also creating new jobs – a total of 500 next year to operate our new warehouse at Fenny Lock.” H1 profit before exceptional items was £69m – up £124m on 2020/21, when the partnership made a loss of £55m. Compared to the first half of 2019/20 when the business made a loss of £52m, profit is up £121m. The business made savings of £66m, and received business rates relief of £58m. The partnership had exceptional costs of £98m in the half, due to property costs totaling £24m – principally to settle lease obligations arising from store closures – and redundancy costs of £54m. Including these exceptional items, the partnership
made a loss before tax of £29m – a significant improvement on last year’s loss before tax of £635m. Underpinning the growth in profit was a +6% increase in sales across the partnership. John Lewis saw strong sales growth in the first half, up +12% on last year (+13% LFL). Almost 75% of sales were made online in H1, broadly the same as last year. Growth was strong in Home (up +23%), yet margins remained subdued as sales in lowermargin categories remained higher than before the pandemic, and inflationary pressures in global freight pushed up costs. The retailer launched ANYDAY, a new own-brand which offers “style and value for money”, and has been its most successful own-brand launch ever for a spring season, delivering £56m of sales in the half. Sharon says that the retailer’s focus for H2 will be execution of the partnership plan, including expanding areas dedicated to John Lewis within Waitrose to approximately 40 shops by early 2022.
FURNITURE VILLAGE LAUNCHES HELPLINE TO TACKLE SLEEP PROBLEMS Furniture Village has partnered with The Sleep Charity to launch the UK’s first dedicated helpline for people who struggle to sleep. The National Sleep Helpline will be operated by specialist, trained advisors between 7pm-9pm five days a week, Sunday to Thursday. The team will provide callers with tips and advice so they can identify appropriate strategies, directing them to other organisations and services for specialist or long-term support. The launch follows a survey of 2000 UK adults conducted by OnePoll, which looked at the consequences of a bad night’s sleep. Results showed that more than a quarter (28%) said it had affected their mental health. This figure rose to 50%
for those aged 18-24. Lisa Artis, deputy CEO of The Sleep Charity, says: “It’s clear that the great British public is in the midst of a sleep crisis which is affecting national mental health, work performance and even leading to alcohol misuse. Almost 60% of those surveyed felt that there was a lack of support for their sleep issues, which is why we have partnered with Furniture Village to set up the UK’s first National Sleep Helpline. Together we want to ensure that everyone has access to high-quality, evidence-based advice, regardless of age, ethnicity, background or income.” The helpline can be reached on 03303 530541.
RECORD RESULTS AND SUCCESSION PLANNING AT JYSK Worldwide, JYSK achieved a record-breaking €4.386b in turnover in its 2020/21 financial year (ended 31st August 2021). It achieved a turnover of €69.2m in the UK and Ireland, demonstrating +67% sales growth YoY. “I am very pleased that we have been able to increase turnover by +7% despite the fact that our stores have been temporarily closed in almost all markets,” says president and CEO, Jan Bøgh. Online sales increased by +43% (accounting for
28.6% of the UK’s total sales), in addition to JYSK’s Click & Collect results, and the retailer’s customer base grew by 230,000 YoY, with significant growth in new territories such as Ireland and Belgium. JYSK ended the period with 3085 stores – up 136 YoY. Jan has taken up the new position of president and CEO of Lars Larsen Group Retail, to focus on retail companies across the group and opportunities for acquisitions. Rami Jensen will take over as group president and CEO on 1st September 2023.
Heal’s has opened a new 7500ft2 outlet store in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, offering returned and overstocked pieces at significantly reduced prices, as well as establishing a presence in Fenwick (Newcastle)
The BFM will present three webinars in the coming months, on the following topics: doing business with the EU and NI post-Brexit (6th October); business’ insurance needs (19th October); and social media channels, strategy and content (11th November)
Geko Products, based in Nottinghamshire, has acquired home and giftware supplier Scarthingwell Replicas. Geko has launched a new Scarthingwell website to run alongside its existing offer, and Scarthingwell’s trade showroom has now moved to Geko’s head office
CIFF Shanghai, which was scheduled to run in September, has been postponed until 11-14th December, 2021
The Cotswold Company has appointed Lynsey Dorman as art director, to ensure brand positioning and purpose are present across all visual assets and content
SATRA’s Phil Reynolds has been appointed chair of the British Standards Institute (BSI) technical committee FW/6 ‘Flammability performance and fire tests for furniture’
Handy has reached an agreement to acquire the non-zip related assets and sales from Aero Zip, as that company’s founder, Will Evans, plans to retire READ MORE ONLINE AT FURNITURENEWS.NET
