John Lewis's results

[BobHelm]

John Lewis Partnerships are a pretty unique British shop & supermarket chain. I first became interested in them when my elder sister got her first job with them in London. Given a choice I will shop in their supermarket chain (Waitrose) before any where else. The company is unique because it is owned by its employees, but aims towards the 'top end' of the market. Selling on a "high quality product at a reasonable price basis" rather than a "lowest price" basis that most retailers seem to pursue.
It is also unique in that it releases financial figures weekly. Because of the way it is organised I would like to believe that the accounts it issues are liable to have little manipulation & questionable activity associated with them. The detail in the quarterly accounts goes into huge detail. So much so that he results of an individual store or product line can be analyzed. A true example of open & honest business practice.
So they have just issued their 'holiday period' accounts. Any way the figures that they have released show a very, very positive time for the chain with business activity way up & far in excess of expectations - a very Merry Christmas for them. It will not be know until later in January if this trend was repeated across the whole of UK retailing or was a John Lewis unique experience.

[Techland]

?????????

[Bandung_Dero]

Bob, I guess you trying tell your fellow country men that there is some sort of spark on the UK economic horizon! Good luck and news of sorts, I guess, but hardly Udon related and of no conciquence to other expats.

[Aardvark]

Actually the whole World Economy is slowly picking up, but I fear it's just the Christmas shopping that can't be avoided that has made the figures look good. Wait awhile and see if it's sustainable

[BobHelm]

Which was why I put it in "World News" & not "Thailand" or "Udon" News.
As the UK economy has been generally thought to be going to remain in recession longer than the rest of Europe then news that it could already be recovering would have been good news for most people I would have thought

[Fawn]

This is on a day that Marks and Spencer reported less than pleasing sales figures for the festive season. The share price dropped 6.8% on the LSE. In contrast 5 week 'like for like' sales for John Lewis were up 12.7%.

Source: BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8442828.stm

[JimboPSM]

The M & S figures are rather intriguing and confusing – especially when compare with the JL figures.

If they were as bad as the market reaction suggests I would have expected a fairly long post Christmas Sale, however the sale which started on Boxing Day lasted less than a week

Given the structure of JL I suspect that their management probably had its ear closer to the ground and understands its customers better than the M & S management in planning its Christmas strategy.

Additionally I believe that M & S is still suffering from losing touch with (what had previously been) an extremely loyal customer base well over a decade ago when quality standards were lowered in pursuit of higher profits - and despite all the years that have passed since then has never managed to fully recover it.

[wazza]

Cant see Piemash releasing his weekly figures.