Sales at John Lewis's department stores raced ahead

The payout from the partnership, which is co-owned by its employees, is up 29% from last year, and is the equivalent of nine weeks pay for each of them.

Chairman Stuart Hampson said the John Lewis department stores had seen "a simply stunning year".

Overall sales at the group, which includes Waitrose, grew 11% to �6.4bn.

The John Lewis department store chain reported an 11% rise in sales to �2.7bn, with like-for-like sales - which strip out the impact of new store space - up 10.3%.

The Waitrose supermarkets saw sales climb 11% to �3.7bn, with like-for-like sales up by 5.3%.

Mr Hampson said both divisions had made "an encouraging start to what is expected to be a more challenging new trading year".

John Lewis is also making an �85m top-up payment to its pension fund.

News of John Lewis's bumper results came on the same day that its Waitrose chain was voted the UK's favourite retailer in a survey carried out by Verdict Research.

Waitrose was followed in the survey by the John Lewis department stores, which had topped the poll in 2006.