Sharon White (businesswoman)

"I’m a very pragmatic person,"

"Look at the high street names that aren’t here, but were here in 2019. The fact that we’ve come through it, the business has got momentum and the team is in place for a smooth transition. I’ve felt incredibly lucky."

"We’ve come through once in a generation events over the last five years"

"We’ve had the pandemic and we’ve had inflation at a level we haven’t seen since the 1970s. We’ve come through that as a partnership with all the upsides of the partnership – transparency, service, long-term focus – intact."

"I would say it’s a watershed moment. Some of the difficult decisions we took over the last year mean that we’re now generating more cash as a business"

"We’re back on track and much more fit for the future. This is a launch pad for the next phase of growth for the business and to be frank we’re in as solid a position as we could be given the five years we’ve had"

"The partnership almost sits apart from the rest of the business world,” she adds. “We’re almost more in the mode of the BBC or NHS as a national institution, because people feel that they’ve got a stake."

"The question is about how you fund your growth. The most straightforward is you generate your own cash through trading."

"I’m looking forward to what Waitrose is going to be doing over the next two to three years"

"The partnership model was never in question"

"I always ask, what’s the upside?"