UK retail group John Lewis Partnership has said its first-half sales rose 6% to £2.5bn (US$4.5bn) compared to the year-ago period, while sales at its Waitrose supermarket chain rose 6.4% to £1.4bn.
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The company said that for the half year to 31 July 2004, Waitrose sales rose 3.7% on a like-for-like basis. John Lewis said Waitrose produced an “outstanding performance” in the first half, especially given the strong comparative figures resulting from last year’s hot summer.
Seven of the 19 branches acquired from Morrison following the takeover of Safeway were converted to Waitrose stores in the period and two new branches were opened at Wandsworth and Newbury. The company said all of these new stores have been trading strongly.
“There has been no underestimating the challenge of taking on the 18 former Safeway and one former Morrison stores. We are now over half way down the track in their conversion and this will be completed by November. After being closed for just two weeks, the converted shops achieved sales well ahead of budget,” the company said.
John Lewis said its Ocado online grocery delivery service has continued to make major operational improvements at its Hatfield warehouse, which will facilitate further rapid expansion. Ocado was delivering more than 20,000 orders per week before the summer holiday season.
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By GlobalDataAfter six weeks of the second half, the company said sales at Waitrose are up 12%, or 3% on a like-for-like basis.
