Tesco has begun selling off land once earmarked for new supermarkets in a move that could net the retailer hundreds of millions of pounds.

Tesco has begun selling off land once earmarked for new supermarkets in a move that could net the retailer hundreds of millions of pounds.

Embattled grocer Tesco has appointed Savills to shift six of its biggest development sites across the UK, according to The Telegraph.

The sites include land that had been selected for a proposed £60m development in Wolverhampton.

Others are understood to include the Monaco House Complex in Birmingham, a six-acre site near Leeds city centre, land in Burton-on-Trent, a project in Doncaster and part of a retail park in the West Midlands.

The news comes a week after Tesco revealed it had regained ownership of 21 of its stores as part of a property swap deal with British Land.

Tesco bosses have identified the sale of such ‘non-core land’ as a way of raising funds. Its balance sheet has been hit by a fall in profits and the £263m accounting scandal.

Its new chief executive Dave Lewis has scaled back plans for new stores, shelving 49 developments while also revealing 43 store closures.