Department store John Lewis has announced sales in its Direct business branch, were up by 18 per cent.

In the year up to January 30th 2010, the company revealed an increase of 60.6 million pounds up to 393.5 million pounds.

Bonus payments of 151.3 million pounds were given to the retailer's 70,000 staff members – equating to an average of 15 per cent of their yearly wages.

Charlie Mayfield, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership said they are "emerging from the recession in a stronger competitive position."

Mr Mayfield added that "Momentum in John Lewis built through the year" [...] "together with strong growth in multichannel and online operations" - were key contributors to a successful year, for the company.