Tesco to pull out of Japan after spending £250m

The UK supermarket giant Tesco has pulled out of Japan after spending eight years and more than £250 million trying to break into the world’s third-biggest grocery market.

The globe-trotting British retailer has spent much of the past decade expanding internationally. Yet despite success with its ‘Asian arm’ – which had £11bn sales last year and also includes Thailand, China and Korea – Japan proved too difficult for Tesco to crack.

Tesco’s group chief executive Philip Clarke said on Wednesday that the retailer had “made considerable efforts in Japan [but] we have concluded we cannot build a sufficiently scaleable business." He added: "We have decided to sell our operations there and focus on our larger businesses in the region."

 Read a full report at the Guardian ·