Retailer told turnaround project will cost more to build than it’s worth on paper
John Lewis faces “extreme challenges” in making a paper profit on its flagship housing scheme, its advisers have warned.
A scheme to build more than 400 flats above a Waitrose in West Ealing risks costing significantly more to build than it is worth on paper.
The project threatens to deliver a negative return of £57m, planning documents show.
The official early analysis, commissioned by John Lewis Partnership, raises fresh questions about the retailer’s plans to expand into property under chairman Dame Sharon White.