John Lewis scraps staff bonus and warns of job cuts after £234m loss

John Lewis in Oxford Street, the retailer’s flagship store. Steady sales at the department store chain only partly offset the fall in sales at Waitrose. Photograph: Guy Bell/Rex

John Lewis and Waitrose staff will not get a bonus this year after the retail group fell into the red, posting a worse than expected £230m full-year loss.

Sharon White, the chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, warned of job losses to come as she said “inflation hit us like a hurricane”, with higher freight, energy, labour and fuel bills adding £180m in costs. These helped push the group into the second ever full-year loss in its history.