John Lewis Partnership has reported a half-year loss of £99 million and described the outlook for the rest of the year as “highly uncertain”.
The department stores and Waitrose supermarkets business said the deficit largely reflected inflation not fully passed on to customers, the unwinding of Covid shopping patterns and its cost of living support for staff.
Meanwhile, oil giant Shell has announced its chief executive Ben van Beurden is to step down after almost nine years at the helm. He will be succeeded at the start of next year by Wael Sawan, who has worked for Shell for 25 years.
