The owner of John Lewis and Waitrose has returned to profit after three years of losses, in a sign that chair Dame Sharon White’s turnaround plan is starting to pay off (Financial Times £).
The owner of John Lewis and Waitrose has scrapped its annual bonus for the third time in four years despite swinging back into the black and pledging to open more shops (The Times £).
The John Lewis Partnership said it made a £56m pre-tax profit in the year to 27 January, compared with a £234m loss in the previous year (The Guardian).
Chair Sharon White said John Lewis had made ‘significant progress’, giving the group the financial headroom to invest, and she expects ‘profits to grow further’ in 2024 (Mail).
Dame Sharon White has vowed to focus “unashamedly” on improving John Lewis’s core retail business after the partnership denied its staff their bonus for the third time in four years (Telegraph £).
A group of Nestlé shareholders has filed a resolution ahead of its annual meeting next month demanding the world’s biggest food company reduce its reliance on unhealthy products and arguing that the health target it has introduced is insufficient (Financial Times £).
Legal & General is backing a shareholder campaign to force Nestlé into a vote in April on reducing the proportion of foods it sells that are considered unhealthy (The Times £).
Together with fellow asset managers Candriam and La Francaise, L&G has filed a resolution ahead of Nestlé’s annual general meeting in April, urging its board to set new targets for sales of healthier products and warning over the potential public health impact of unhealthy foods (Telegraph £).
Almost 5,000 more chain stores were left empty last year – a rate of about 14 closures a day – as high streets were hurt by the failure of Wilko and the retreat of banks and pubs (The Guardian).
The maker of Marlboro cigarettes, Altria Group, says it will sell more than $2.2bn (£1.7bn) of shares in AB InBev, the owner of the Bud Light and Stella Artois beer brands (BBC News).
Pret A Manger has launched an apparent crackdown on its coffee subscribers sharing free drinks with friends and colleagues (Telegraph £).
Operating income at Supermarket Income Reit has jumped by 18% to £45m thanks to an increase in rent collected by the company (The Times £).
The Guardian follows up fellow papers to report on the latest Morrisons accounts. The supermarket revealed it cut more than 8,800 jobs last year – almost 8% of its total workforce – while making a loss of more than £1bn after a debt-fuelled private equity takeover in 2021.
A feature in The Guardian explores how the fishing industry abuses workers.
M&S has previewed its summer collection, unveiling a pair of £15 shorts featuring padding designed to enhance the wearer’s buttocks (The Guardian).
Jamie Oliver is aiming to show television audiences that air fryers are about “so much more than nuggets and chips” in an upcoming Channel 4 series (The Times £).
A new study provides some evidence to back up Victoria Beckham’s habit of taking a couple of spoonfuls of cider vinegar every morning to aid weight loss (The Times £).
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