Latest figures revealed this morning for the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) of John Lewis and Waitrose stores reveal a dramatic return to profit after the losses of 2022/23.

Unaudited full-year results for the retail giant's John Lewis and Waitrose stores to January 27th 2024 record a profit before tax and exceptional items of £42m, which marks an improvement of £120m when compared to 2022/23's loss of £78m.

Profit before tax came to £56m, which equated to a £290m improvement year-on-year, while operating profit margins increased 1.2% in the year.

In sales, JLP took in £12.4bn, which was a 1% climb on last year. That modest uptick was driven by 22.6m customers shopping with the brand.

Net cash generated from operating activities increased by £201m to £433m and total liquidity increased to £1.7bn, giving JLP, the brand says, "the financial flexibility to self-fund our transformation".

The company said: "Improved performance will allow us to accelerate investment for our customers (£542m planned this year, up from £312m in 2023/24) and in pay for our Partners - our highest ever pay investment amounting to £116m."

However, there will be no bonuses for partners this year: "After careful consideration, we believe that investing in Partner pay and improving our business must continue to take priority over paying a bonus. Consequently, there will be no Partnership Bonus paid this year."

Dame Sharon White, Chairman of JLP, said: "We have made significant progress in the last year to return the business to profitability and delivered results that allow us to increase investment in our retail businesses; we expect profits to grow further this year."

She added: "This year we will unashamedly focus on investing back into our retail businesses for our customers, including opening new Waitrose shops and continuing to modernise our brand offering in John Lewis, while prioritising pay for our Partners."

Intriguingly, within the detail of these results, Waitrose store sales rose 5% to £7.7bn with a record number of customers visiting. Trading Operating Profit of £1,064m improved by £170m. Sales growth, combined with strong delivery of productivity programmes across stores, cost of goods and supply chain underpinned this improvement. For the full year, volume was down 1.5% and average item price up by 6.6%.

Against those figures, John Lewis stores saw a drop of 4% to £4.8bn, in what the Partnership called a "challenging year for the sector".

The Partnership added: "We delivered improved profitability in John Lewis helped by improved gross margin rate and productivity... Sales in Fashion, including Beauty, were up on the year while we saw weaker sales in Home and Technology. John Lewis attracted a record 13.4 million customers, underlining the reach of the brand."

Dame Sharon's tenure as Chairman has been controversial after she was reported to be considering a break with the partnership's historic employee-owned structure by selling a stake to outside investors as a route to new investment. The plan was not progressed, but in October she signalled that she would not be seeking renewal of her five-year tenure as chairman of the company.

Dame Sharon is set to step down in February 2025. She is the first woman to lead the business in its 100-year history.