© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Customers stroll previous the John Lewis division retailer on Oxford Road in London, Britain December 17, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson
(Reuters) -British retailer John Lewis, which has been 100% owned by its workers, is contemplating diluting its partnership construction, The Sunday Instances reported on Saturday.
The report stated that the corporate would contemplate promoting solely a minority stake and its precedence can be to keep up majority worker possession.
Chairperson Sharon White is within the early levels of exploring a plan to vary the retailer’s mutual construction so it might probably attempt to elevate between 1 billion and a pair of billion kilos ($1.22 billion-$2.44 billion) of recent funding, the report stated.
Any exterior investor must share the partnership’s employee-centric values, the report added.
The corporate, which runs John Lewis shops and grocer Waitrose, stated on Friday it must minimize workers numbers and scrap bonuses this 12 months, flagging an unsure outlook as clients battle with inflation.
“We’ve all the time stated we might search partnerships to assist fund our transformation and thrilling progress plans,” John Lewis stated in a press release on the weekend, citing earlier partnerships with Ocado (LON:) up to now and a present three way partnership with funding agency abrdn.
“Our Companions, who personal the enterprise, would be the first to listen to about any developments.”
($1 = 0.8214 kilos)
