John Lewis’ expects ‘bad’ results as property values are written down

John Lewis could post a loss of hundreds of millions due to massive writedown on the value of its properties

John Lewis could post a loss of hundreds of millions when it publishes its results on Thursday, due to a massive writedown on the value of its properties.

The department store chain owns the freehold on about a tenth of its properties, while the others are a mix of short and long leases. 

Many of the department store’s properties are expected to be written down 

However, as its website now makes up about 40 per cent of sales, the reduced High Street footfall means larger stores are struggling to justify their size.

Underlying pre-tax profits are predicted to drop 40 per cent to £95million, compared with 2018, according to retail analyst Nick Bubb. 

Analyst Richard Hyman added: ‘The results are going to be bad.’

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