Tesco has today (Aug 31) announced its decision to sell its business in Japan.

Philip Clarke, Chief Executive Officer of Tesco Plc, said: "We have reviewed our portfolio in Asia and the performance of our business in Japan. Having made considerable efforts in Japan, we have concluded that we cannot build a sufficiently scalable business.

"We have decided to sell our operations there and focus on our larger businesses in the region, in line with our priority of driving growth and improving returns. I want to thank our colleagues in Japan for their continued dedication to the business.

"With good stores in good locations across Greater Tokyo, we will be undertaking a formal sale process over the coming months and the business will continue to trade as usual in the meantime."

Japan is the smallest of Tesco's international retail businesses. The company operates 129 small stores in the Greater Tokyo area under the Tsurakame, Tesco and Tesco Express formats. Over half of the stores are profitable and Tesco has also developed a strong own label range and a fresh kitchen to supply fish and other products to its stores