Retail has worst December since crash

Tesco, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Debenhams were among a host of retailers reporting festive trading figures yesterday as the high street braced itself for another difficult year.

John Lewis’s 83,000 staff woke up to news that their annual bonus is under threat for the first time since 1953 amid as the firm battles challenging trading conditions.

The retailer also expects profits to be “substantially lower” this year amid slower sales growth.

Over Christmas, the department store chain booked like-for-like sales growth of just 1%, while sister chain Waitrose saw only 0.3%, growth.

The retail sector endured its worst December since the financial crisis, as a combination of falling consumer confidence in the face of Brexit uncertainty and soaring costs hit the sector hard.

Marks & Spencer sales were also under pressure, with the performance of both clothing and food wilting. Over its Christmas quarter, the bellwether said like-for-like clothing and home sales dropped 2.4%, while comparable food sales fell 2.1%.

Total clothing and home sales fell by 4.8%.

“John Lewis bonus is under threatforfirst time since 1953”

Under pressure department store chain Debenhams also served up another set of dismal results, recording a 3.4% decline in like-for-like in the six weeks to January 5, weighed down by the UK where sales were 3.6% lower due to weaker footfall.

Meanwhile, Tesco emerged a winner with its best set of Christmas trading figures in nearly a decade, saying promotions on festive staples including meat and veg helped.

The grocery giant posted a 2.2% rise in UK like-forlike sales in the six weeks to January 5, outperforming the wider market in all key categories – food, clothing and general merchandise.