John Lewis is expected to buck much of the gloom on the high street and unveil bumper profits later this week. The department store group declined to discuss the figures for the first half of this year ahead of its announcement. But analysts believe the percentage sales growth will be in the double digits, while pre-tax profits are likely to come in between £90m and £95m.

That will be a substantial increase on profits of £78m in the same period last year, which represented a 3 per cent decline on 2004. At the time, the group's chairman, Sir Stuart Hampson, described conditions on the high street as "the worst for 15 years". Full-year sales in 2005 were £5.8bn, a rise of 8 per cent, and profits up 10 per cent at £252m. As a result, the group's 65,000 staff, or "partners", received 15 per cent of their salaries as bonuses.