British retailer John Lewis enters wealth management market

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's John Lewis Partnership is entering the investments market for the first time, part of a plan to generate more revenue outside of retail, it said on Thursday.

The employee-owned group, which owns the John Lewis department store chain and upmarket supermarket Waitrose, has been hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last October, partnership chairman Sharon White detailed a 1 billion pound ($1.4 billion) recovery plan which included diversifying beyond retail and seeking more partnerships.

Seeking to take advantage of its status as one of Britain's most well known and trusted brands, John Lewis said it had teamed up with digital wealth manager Nutmeg to offer three ethical investment products - a junior ISA, a general investment account and a stocks and shares ISA.

It already offers home insurance and retail credit.

The partnership's target is for 40% of its profits to come from outside retail by 2030.

It is also entering the property market. Last month John Lewis said it would build 10,000 rental homes in the next decade with half of them being developed on its existing estate.

($1 = 0.7296 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey)