Tesco Considers Withdrawing from Central Europe

The British retail chain Tesco is considering selling its operations in Central Europe, specifically in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. This move would definitively end three decades of efforts to build a global empire.

According to Financial Times sources, the company is already working with bankers to analyze options for the division, which operates 561 stores in the region and employs more than 22,000 people. Tesco has not commented on the speculation.

The Central European business, founded in Hungary in 1995, is Tesco's last major overseas presence outside the United Kingdom and Ireland. Following an accounting scandal in 2014, the company gradually sold off its operations in the US, South Korea, Thailand and Poland.

Last year, the European division reported revenue of €5.2bn ($5.95bn), but profits fell due to strong competition from discounters Aldi and Lidl and growing regulatory pressure.

A withdrawal from the region would mark a major strategic shift, as management had until recently described its Central European stores as a successful and integral part of the group.

(max)