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News Release
Aug 31, 2011
TESCO TO SELL JAPAN BUSINESS
Tesco has today announced its decision to sell its business in Japan.
Philip Clarke, Chief Executive Officer of Tesco Plc, said:
“We have reviewed our portfolio in Asia and the performance of our business in Japan. Having made considerable efforts in Japan, we have concluded that we cannot build a sufficiently scalable business.
“We have decided to sell our operations there and focus on our larger businesses in the region, in line with our priority of driving growth and improving returns. I want to thank our colleagues in Japan for their continued dedication to the business.
“With good stores in good locations across Greater Tokyo, we will be undertaking a formal sale process over the coming months and the business will continue to trade as usual in the meantime.”
Japan is the smallest of Tesco’s international retail businesses. The company operates 129 small stores in the Greater Tokyo area under the Tsurakame, Tesco and Tesco Express formats. Over half of the stores are profitable and Tesco has also developed a strong own label range and a fresh kitchen to supply fish and other products to its stores.
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Contact:
Investors: Steve Webb +44 (0) 1992 644 800
Media: Greg Sage +44 (0) 1992 644 454
Notes to editors:
Tesco, headquartered in the UK, is one of the world’s leading retailers and operates over 1,400 stores across five markets in Asia (China, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan). Worldwide, Tesco operates over 5,400 stores across 14 countries (including Japan) and employs nearly 500,000 people.
Tesco entered Japan in 2003 with the acquisition of the C2 Network, which ran stores under the Tsurakame brand.