Tesco to leave Japan

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Tesco is to quit Japan

By Daily Express Reporter

TESCO is to quit Japan, nine years after embarking on an attempt to crack its notoriously difficult grocery market.

Britain?s biggest supermarket will sell a 50 per cent stake in the loss-making business for a nominal sum to Japanese retailer Aeon.

The two will form a joint venture into which Tesco will invest ?40million to finance restructuring. Analysts expect Aeon to buy the remaining 50 per cent once that is complete.

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With 117 stores in the Tokyo area, Tesco?s Japanese arm is one of its smallest. The deal will allow it to focus on bigger Asian businesses such as Thailand and Korea.

A number of Western retailers, including Carrefour of France and Britain?s Boots, have pulled out of Japan in the past decade.

A year after launching a review of the business, Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke said: ?We are confident this will deliver the best outcome for or staff, our customers in Japan and for our shareholders.?

Analyst Clive Black at Shore Capital said i t provided ?further evidence of the greater focus and capital discipline? brought by Clarke. The shares rose 2?p to 303?p.

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