Self-examination in retail-land comes in different forms. At the John Lewis Partnership, management is contemplating the previously unthinkable and wondering whether to look for an outside investor to take a minority stake. Over at FTSE 100 firm Next, long-serving chief executive Lord Wolfson opened his annual sermon for shareholders by asking whether the clothing retailer had reached maturity.
While Next’s 20-year financial record is still terrific (compound annual growth in earnings a share at 14%), the more recent performance has been “unexciting in absolute terms”,judged Wolfson. The compound rate over the last eight years will be only 5.4% if this year’s forecast of a fall in pre-tax profits from £870m to £795m proves correct. It has been “an uphill battle”, he says.
