Britain's John Lewis scraps staff bonus as losses widen

LONDON (Reuters) - British retailer John Lewis on Thursday said it would not pay its staff a bonus after inflation and the cost of living crisis led to a widening of its annual loss.

The employee-owned company said it made a loss of 234 million pounds ($283.23 million)in the 12 months to Jan. 28 compared to a loss of 27 million pounds in the year before, which it said was largely due to property write downs.

Sharon White, who chairs the partnership, hinted the group would also have to reduce its number of staff, who are known as partners, after flagging an uncertain outlook.

"As we need to become more efficient and productive, that will have an impact on our number of partners," White said.

"That's a massive regret to me personally."

($1 = 0.8262 pounds)

(Reporting by Suban Abdulla; editing by Kate Holton)