John Lewis sees tougher year, weekly sales fall

LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - British retailer John Lewis [JLP.UL] reported a second consecutive fall in weekly sales at its department stores and warned of tougher trading ahead as shoppers face higher prices, taxes and public spending cuts.

However, the employee-owned group, which has long outperformed the broader retail sector, said on Friday it was still budgeting for growth for the year to January 2012.

Department store sales fell 0.9 percent year-on-year to 49.5 million pounds ($80.3 million) in the week ended Jan. 29, following a 2.2 percent decline the week before.

The data add to signs of a slowdown in consumer spending after Christmas and a hike in VAT sales tax.

John Lewis, which also runs upmarket grocery chain Waitrose, said electricals and home technology sales fell 5.1 percent, while sales of home-related products were up 0.3 percent and fashion sales up 1.4 percent.

Weekly sales at Waitrose rose 6.4 percent to 95.6 million pounds.

(Reporting by Mark Potter, editing by James Davey)