John Lewis to Change?
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The John Lewis retail group is presently 100% owned by its staff.
Its chair, Sharon White, is in the early stages of exploring a plan to change the retailer’s partner structure so it can try to raise between £1bn and £2bn of new investment, the Sunday Times reported.
The partnership model means John Lewis is unable to raise equity and has instead been forced to sell bonds. It already has £1.7bn of debt on its books.
Its finance director, Bérangère Michel, is said to have raised the topic of selling a stake at a meeting late last year and plans have since been developed by Dame Sharon according to the Sunday Times, which first reported the proposals.
It is not clear how the partnership would manage any demand by an investor for a financial return, such as a dividend.
The company, which runs John Lewis department stores and supermarket Waitrose, said on Friday it would have to cut staff numbers and scrap bonuses this year.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/john-lewis-poised-to-water-down-partnership-model/ar-AA18Nmgi
I worked for them, Waitrose, John Lewis Partnership, as it was then. Just like every company, each year profits are used to invest in the business. As has been said before, profit share was generally 2 weeks pay. We all knew that 2% of the company is owned by a secret shareholder?
I also worked for CO-OP retail (as it was). For it to claim the CO-OP was ‘socialist’ when the emphasis is on the bottomline. Never heard before: sales were up year on year, but profits were down?
The coop food store near where I worked went on strike over pay, my then manager, quipped: “they’re all women just working for pin money“.
Food for thought…pun intended
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