Lower staff bonuses at John Lewis

John Lewis Partnership (JLP), the group behind the eponymous department store and Waitrose, is expected to unveil a lower staff bonus next week.

JLP is set to hand its 76,500 employees a bonus of about 16 per cent of their annual salary on Wednesday. Last year's payout was 18 per cent.

The analyst Nick Bubb forecasts JLP will post "resilient" pre-tax profits of about £350m for the year to 28 January, following £368m in 2010/11.