The retail large John Lewis might dilute its 100% worker possession to boost recent funding.

The change to the partnership mannequin would sign a significant departure for the company, which runs the division retailer chain and Waitrose supermarkets.

The agency warned of job cuts and informed employees it is not going to hand out a bonus for under 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 vary its mutual construction in an try to boost as much as £2bn of recent funding, based on The Sunday Instances.

The group would contemplate promoting solely a minority stake and its precedence can be to take care of majority worker possession, the newspaper mentioned.

Any transfer must be voted on by the retailer’s partnership council of about 60 employees.

Within the face of robust buying and selling situations, the agency has been trying to diversify its operations, together with a transfer into the “construct to hire” property enterprise.

On the finish of final yr it signed a £500m deal with Abrdn, a world funding firm, that can assist it construct 1,000 new properties.

The John Lewis Partnership mentioned: “We have at all times mentioned we’d search partnerships to assist fund our transformation and thrilling progress plans.

“We have carried out this with Ocado previously and now with Abrdn.

“Our companions, who personal the enterprise, would be the first to listen to about any developments.”

UK’s largest employee-owned enterprise

The enterprise was based by John Lewis with a small store on Oxford Road in 1864.

His son, John Spedan Lewis, created the partnership greater than 70 years in the past as an experiment into a greater means 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 had been added this reached £234m.

These included the write-down in worth of Waitrose shops.

It represented a hunch 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.