John Lewis has had to pay £24m to settle lease obligations arising from its department store closures.
The exceptional cost has made a significant dent in the group’s otherwise recovering 2021 annual results.
Before exceptionals, the group made a profit of £69m, up from a loss of £124m last year. But with exceptional items taken into account, both the property costs and £54m of redundancy payouts, the group made a loss before tax of £29m.
Chair Dame Sharon White pointed out that this was significant improvement on last year’s loss before tax of £635m, which was dominated by a write down in the value of John Lewis stores.
To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews
