John Lewis posts solid sales growth - graduate jobs

Graduates hoping to work in managerial retail positions in a reputable retailer might be pleased to hear that John Lewis has provided some cheer from the beleaguered high street today by revealing a healthy rise in sales for last week.

Trading had been up 7% until Saturday dragged down the weekly average to leave a year-on-year rise of 2.6% at £53.4 million, or up 1% excluding VAT.

The retailer, which has 32 stores, said the performance was encouraging amid signs of faltering consumer confidence and following a period of stock market turbulence and changeable weather conditions.

The figures come a day after The Co-operative, which is the UK's fifth biggest food retailer, reported a 10% decline in half-year underlying profits and its boss Peter Marks said conditions were the worst he had known in 40 years.

John Lewis said key to its resilient trading was the performance of its online business, which saw sales growth of 33%. Its Oxford Street store was the top performing branch, with a sales rise of 5.2%, followed by Solihull and Glasgow.

Electrical and home technology sales were up 7.7%, with tablets out-selling desktop PCs for the first time, while fashion sales were up 4.4% with new brands driving much of the growth, and home sales down 1.7%.