John Lewis Partnership sales are up, but reveals disappointing profits.

The John Lewis Partnership has experienced a drop in profit before tax for the first six months of 2009, of a staggering 20% to £86.3 million.

The interim financial statement covers the results for both Waitrose and John Lewis retail stores. 

Figures reveal that sales were up 3.5% to £3.39 billion, along with operating profit excluding property profits, which enjoyed an increase of 0.2%. However, operating profit and profit before tax suffered falls in value for the six months to 1 August 2009, with drops of 3.1% and 19.6% respectively.

Despite the fall in operating profit, John Lewis Partnership Chairman, Charlie Mayfield, commented: “We’re pleased with our first half performance, the result of our early response to the downturn, the slight easing of trading conditions and, crucially, the action we’re taken to build momentum in every part of the business.”

Mr Mayfield went on to say that the retail giant predicts that 2010 may be a difficult trading year as the economy struggles to recover. Though he said that the Partnership “is well-placed to trade strongly and maintain momentum.”

The Partnership opened a new distribution centre earlier in the year in Milton Keynes, and is excited about the forthcoming openings of new stores in Cardiff and Poole.

John Lewis Partnership is not the only retail outlet to suffer this year. French Connection has seen its half-year losses more than double, and Next saw like-for-like sales fall by 1.2%.