John Lewis's 70,000 staff share £151m bonus Andy Street, managing director of John Lewis department store division, explaining how operating profits fell from £198m to £158m, said: "it's all about managing the move to multi channel leadership, anticipating how the customers want to shop with us. In the short term that did dent profits. He said investment in its website and click and collect was expensive, while the cost of maintaining its Never Knowingly Undersold promise to match rivals on price cost the department stores £24m last year. This year's bonus pot was £165.2m. Chairman Charlie Mayfield said events such as the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games would hopefully provide a lift for consumers this year. Sale at Waitrose, which has 272 branches and increased its market share by 0.2pc to 4.1pc over the year, reported 7.9pc increase in sales, excluding VAT, to £5.1bn. However, operating profit fell 5pc to £260.6m as investments in store space and new formats held back earnings. The 35 department stores saw sales increase 1pc to £2.79bn, but operating profit fell 20pc to £157.9m. Earnings were also hit by the opening of a new store in London's Stratford, the partnership said.