John Lewis owner cut 3,500 jobs last year yet hired chief on £1.2m pay deal

Further job cuts likely as JLP says it is investing in automation as part of simplifying the way we work'

• Business live - latest updates

The owner of John Lewis and Waitrose cut 3,500 jobs last year amid efforts to save costs in a tough market - but employed its first group chief executive on a more than 1m pay deal.

The staff-owned group, which has 34 John Lewis department stores and 329 Waitrose supermarkets, said it employed 72,900 people in its annual report published on Thursday, down from 76,400 a year before, helping to reduce its pay bill to 1.79bn from 1.82bn.