The heavyweight retailers John Lewis and Home Retail Group warned of fall in profits under the impact of housing slump and dwindling consumer confidence. John Lewis Partnership, the retail chain owns department stores and grocery chain Waitrose across the UK. Though the overall sales rose marginally to £3.27bn, it reported a steep fall of £107.3m in the pre-tax profits during six months of 2008, for the first time in its history of past 9 years.
The group predicted a bleak outlook, forecasting no improvement in the economy over the next eighteen months. It blamed slump in the housing market which contributed to fall in home-ware sales at department stores forcing it to offer heavy discounts in Waitrose.
According to the chairman of John Lewis Partnership, Charlie Mayfield, the economic climate became more difficult since the initial shock of the credit crunch. It hit the consumer confidence to the lowest level and resulted in the slowdown of the retail market. He predicted challenging times for 2009 but added that the group was in a position to bounce back when the consumer confidence would recover.
The group would focus on new food lines at Waitrose and fashion lines at John Lewis and fashion lines home goods in the run-up to Christmas.
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