Group pre-tax profit for the six months to July 30 fell 3 per cent to£78 million.
JLP chairman Stuart Hampson said: 'There has been plenty of recent comment that high street trading over the past six months has been the worst in 15 years. I'd certainly agree with that, particularly the severity of the downturn for non-food retail spending.'
John Lewis department store sales were down by 1.3 per cent to£1.1 billion.
However, despite the downturn, food retailing improved. Sales at Waitrose increased 18 per cent, underpinned by like-for-like growth of 4.4 per cent, excluding petrol. Total group sales for the six months increased 10 per cent to£2.7 billion.
Rising consumer concern about healthy eating and food traceability will carry on working in John Lewis's favour, commented Hampson: 'The Waitrose reputation for strong links with farmers and food suppliers continues to win us new customers.'
Despite the drop in the non-food sales, John Lewis said it plans to open a further 10 department stores from 2007, including Lisburn in Northern Ireland, Cardiff, Portsmouth and Leeds.
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