The retail large John Lewis could dilute its 100% worker possession to lift recent funding.
The change to the partnership mannequin would sign a serious departure for the corporate, which runs the division retailer chain and Waitrose supermarkets.
The agency warned of job cuts and advised employees it won’t hand out a bonus for less than the second time since 1953 this week after posting an annual lack of £234m as prices soared and gross sales dipped.
Dame Sharon White, its chairwoman, is within the early phases of exploring a plan to alter its mutual construction in an try to lift as much as £2bn of recent funding, in line with The Sunday Instances.
The group would take into account promoting solely a minority stake and its precedence can be to keep up majority worker possession, the newspaper stated.
Any transfer must be voted on by the retailer’s partnership council of about 60 employees.
Within the face of powerful buying and selling situations, the agency has been seeking to diversify its operations, together with a transfer into the “construct to lease” property enterprise.
On the finish of final yr it signed a £500m deal with Abrdn, a worldwide funding firm, that can assist it construct 1,000 new houses.
The John Lewis Partnership stated: “We have all the time stated we might search partnerships to assist fund our transformation and thrilling progress plans.
“We have performed this with Ocado up to now and now with Abrdn.
“Our companions, who personal the enterprise, would be the first to listen to about any developments.”
The enterprise consists of 329 Waitrose retailers
UK’s largest employee-owned enterprise
The enterprise was based by John Lewis with a small store on Oxford Avenue in 1864.
His son, John Spedan Lewis, created the partnership greater than 70 years in the past as an experiment into a greater approach of doing enterprise by together with employees in decision-making.
The John Lewis Partnership is the UK’s greatest employee-owned enterprise with round 74,000 employees, referred to as companions.
The group has 34 John Lewis retailers and 329 Waitrose retailers, together with its retail web sites.
In a letter despatched to employees final week, Dame Sharon raised the spectre of job losses as a part of efforts “to change into extra environment friendly and productive”.
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‘Inflationary pressures’
A lack of £78m was recorded for the monetary yr which led to January however when distinctive prices have been added this reached £234m.
These included the write-down in worth of Waitrose shops.
It represented a stoop from a £181m revenue within the earlier yr, with John Lewis blaming “inflationary pressures”.
The replace got here a day after the group appointed turnaround specialist Nish Kankiwala as its first chief govt, in a shake-up of the management construction.
