LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - John Lewis Partnership, Britain'sbiggest department store operator, said its sales rose 1.4percent to 2.2 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) in the seven weeksto Jan. 5 but said it still expected full-year profits to fallsubstantially.
Last September, the group forecast profits for its year toend-Jan. 2019 would be substantially lower than 2017-18's profitbefore partnership bonus, tax and exceptional items of 289million pounds.
"We continue to expect full year total Partnership profitsto be substantially lower this year, driven by slower salesgrowth over the year and margin pressure in John Lewis &Partners along with higher costs," it said.
"The board will need to consider carefully in March,following the usual process, whether payment of a bonus isprudent in the light of business and economic prospects at thattime."($1 = 0.7831 pounds)(Reporting by Costas Pitas, Editing by Paul Sandle)
