John Lewis has warned that its 2018-19 profit would be substantially below the previous year's level. Although the group appears to have weathered a difficult environment better than rivals Marks & Spencer, Debenhams or House of Fraser, the department stores in particular have been a drag on profits. Several shops would be closed, including four Waitrose convenience shops and a small supermarket. The Waitrose in Camden, London, a wealthy neighbourhood, will be sold to Aldi, underlining what the group called a "period of generational change". The plan "It's your business 2028", announced three years ago, applies to the 353 Waitrose stores as well as to the group's 50 John Lewis stores. Bonuses to "partners", the 85 000 employees of the company, were drastically lowered last year and will probably be so again this year as the company expects to maintain investments at last year's level. John Lewis Partnership is to continue developing its strengths, quality own-label and quality service as these are fundamentals on which the competition is weak. To do so, however, it will need to maintain staff loyalty. In line with this aim, there will be a global rebrand with the divisions labelled "Waitrose and Partners" and "John Lewis and Partners"./nbsp]

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