Waitrose results for the half year ending 26 July 2008 have highlighted the following:

Total sales £2.03bn, up 5.5% or £105.8m.  Like-for-like food sales up 2.5%

Underlying operating profit, excluding property profits, £100.0m, down 3.2%, or £3.3m

Operating profit down 8.4%, or £9.4m to £102.7m

The retailer commented: “Waitrose has invested in strengthening its customer offer - further improving the quality of our products, introducing new, innovative ranges and investing in price and customer service. We have reformulated many of our products to enhance their quality and achieved the highest ever rating in taste tests.

“£30m was invested in lower prices and increased promotional activity to build our value proposition and we are investing almost £2m to improve customer service. We have continued to support British farmers and ensured that customers are protected from the full effect of price inflation by absorbing some of the price increases. Sales of our premium range 'As Good as Going Out' are up 33 per cent, sales of beef up 5 per cent and sales of prime Aberdeen Angus dry aged beef up 134 per cent.”