Tesco (TSCO) has sold the majority of its Polish supermarkets to Danish retail group Salling Group, citing “market challenges” in the country. Tesco expects to receive proceeds of £165m from the deal, which also includes the transfer of distribution centres.
Tesco has been busy reshaping its Polish business of late, moving towards a ‘two-format’ model that used supermarkets and brought about the conversion of its largest hypermarkets into smaller outlets. Over the past 18 months, the group has also raised around £200m from the sale of 22 stores. Tesco has been affected by changes to domestic Sunday trading laws in Poland.
It will now sell 301 stores, retaining 19 assets outside its latest transaction. Outgoing chief executive Dave Lewis said that the deal “allows us to focus in the region on our business in Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia,” where it has a stronger market position. The transaction follows Tesco’s decision to sell its Thai and Malaysian businesses in March, which marked the group’s departure from Asia.
Tesco pledged a £5bn special dividend and the elimination of its pension deficit with a £2.5bn contribution alongside its Asian disposals.
