John Lewis staff get 15 percent bonus

But the 146-year-old employee-owned group, which owns 28 department stores, one John Lewis "at home" store, 224 Waitrose supermarkets and an Internet business, said it anticipated more challenging trading conditions in 2010, particularly in the second-half.

John Lewis made a profit before the staff bonus and tax of 306.6 million pounds in the year to end-January 2010.

That was up from 279.6 million pounds in the previous year.

After first-half profit fell 19.6 percent the firm had a strong performance in the run-up to Christmas and has continued to trade strongly in 2010, outperforming rivals.

The group, which is the only major British retailer to publish weekly sales figures, said total sales rose 6.5 percent to 7.4 billion pounds.

The partnership bonus, equivalent to eight weeks pay, totalled 151.3 million pounds.

Operating profit at John Lewis' department stores rose 15 percent to 165.9 million pounds.

At Waitrose, the UK's fastest growing grocer, it jumped 27 percent to 268.2 million pounds, driven by the popularity of its lower priced "essential" range, launched last March, rapid online growth due to the introduction of free deliveries and new store openings.

For the first five weeks of the new financial year total sales were 13.5 percent higher, with department store sales up 17.5 percent and Waitrose up 11.3 percent.

(Reporting by James Davey, editing by Paul Sandle)