Price war takes toll on bonuses at John Lewis

JOHN Lewis looks set to cut the annual bonus treasured by thousands of workers by as much as a third.

The company is expected to announce this week that its payout to staff has fallen for a second year in a row after a slump in profits at its supermarket chain Waitrose.

Employees were last year given 15pc of their annual salary as a bonus – an average of £2,225 – down from 17pc in 2013. This year they are expected to get between 10pc and 14pc.

Operating profits at Waitrose are expected to have plunged by more than 20pc from £310m to £240m as it counts the cost of cutting prices to stay competitive.

Pre-tax profits for the whole group are forecast to have fallen from £376m to between £345m and £350m.

Despite the fall in profits, John Lewis and Waitrose have ambitious expansion plans for the year, with John Lewis opening a new department store in Birmingham while Waitrose is opening 16 shops.