Belgian food giant Delhaize is pulling out of Thailand, following consistent losses during its seven years in the country.
The retailer, which employs 1,300 in Thailand, said the decision would incur a one-off cost of EUR16 million (£10.7 million), to be registered in the third quarter.
Delhaize is now hunting for a buyer for its 26 Food Lion Thailand stores and, according to local reports, Asian retail experts expect Tesco - which operates as Tesco Lotus in Asia - to be the most likely bidder.
Delhaize also revealed second-quarter group results. Net earnings rose to EUR81.9 million (£54.8 million) compared with EUR9.3 million (£6.2 million) last year.
Sales edged up 0.4 per cent to EUR4.6 billion (£3 billion). The group said sales had been affected by the weakening of the US dollar against the euro.
Delhaize group president and chief executive officer Pierre-Olivier Beckers confirmed the retailer would meet its expectations for the year.
According to broker Merrill Lynch, the results were stron-ger than expected.
'Delhaize remains a balance sheet-constrained company lacking earnings visibility, with the majority of the business trading in the competitive southeastern US market.'
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