Boss of Britain's John Lewis backed to take business forward

LONDON (Reuters) - Staff at struggling retailer the John Lewis Partnership gave their backing to boss Sharon White on Wednesday despite her move to consider bringing in outside investment to Britain's best known employee-owned group.

However the governing body, which represents staff, rebuked her over the group's performance last year, in votes that are symbolic and not binding.

In March, the partnership, which owns John Lewis department stores and the upmarket Waitrose supermarket chain, confirmed it was considering selling a minority stake in the business to outside investors to fund investment, prompting criticism of chairman White.

Twice a year, the chairman attends the partnership council to provide an update and discuss with councillors the partnership's progress. Symbolic rather than binding votes are then taken.

"The Council voted in support of the chairman to progress the Partnership in relation to its purpose, principles and rules," Chris Earnshaw, President, Partnership Council, said in a statement after Wednesday's meeting.

However, he said the Council did not support last year's performance, in which the group reported a 234 million pounds ($295 million) loss and scraped its partner bonus.

($1 = 0.7923 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey, Editing by Kylie MacLellan and Kate Holton)