John Lewis weekly sales down 7.6 per cent

John Lewis Partnership, the employee-owned store chain seen as a barometer of the retail sector, said last week's sales at its 27 department stores fell 7.6 per cent year on year.

The group said the fall of half-term school holidays made annual comparisons difficult, with many areas of the country having the half-term break in different weeks from last year.

It said the shortfall also reflected floods in four branches, including Peter Jones in London, where sales slumped 18.7 per cent.

"Nonetheless, the current economic climate and consequent customer caution in spending led to a disappointing week. Our best day of the week was Saturday, October 18, with less good figures at the beginning of the week," said the retailer.

For the week to October 18 department store sales were £48.2 million.

"Our task remains to outperform the wider market, and all indications are that we continue to do so," said John Lewis.

Nick Bubb, analyst at Pali International, said that on a like-for-like basis, which strips out the impact of new space, department store sales were down at least 12.5 per cent.

"I don't think school half term had anything to do with it... The weather was pretty mild and stock markets pretty awful, so don't look much further than that," he said.

Sales at the group's chain of 192 Waitrose supermarkets increased 0.5 per cent to £73.8 million.

Mr Bubb estimated Waitrose like-for-like sales were down 2.5 per cent.

"In volume terms this is bad, depending on how you measure food price inflation," he said, adding the data augured badly for Marks & Spencer's current trading.