Tesco tipped to announce sale of Giraffe and Turkish retail arm

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 09 June, 2016

Tesco is expected to offload Giraffe and the Turkish arm of its operations in a move to concentrate on its core grocery business.

Today, (Thursday), the UK's largest grocer is tipped to announce that it is selling its family-friendly restaurant chain Giraffe which posted a £4.1m loss for the full year in 2015.

It is also selling off its interests in Turkey where it currently owns 170 Kipa stores and 10,000 employees.

Giraffe was taken on in 2013 for £49m while Tesco was still led by Philip Clark.

It is expected to be sold to BoparanVentures Limited, an investment vehicle that owns several UK restaurant businesses including chip-shop chain Harry Ramsden's.

Since then, Giraffe has failed to meet expectations and in December the unit posted a £4.1m loss for the year, down from £100,000 the previous year.

The supermarket chain could also be on the verge of selling its other "peripheral" businesses including coffee shop chain Harris + Hoole and Dobbies garden centres.

Tesco's Turkish arm, thought to be worth "a couple of hundred million pounds", is said to have been acquired by Migros, another Turkish-owned retailer.

Tesco made history in 2014 after reporting a £6.4bn loss - the biggest in British corporate history.

Since then, it has been conducting an overhaul of its sprawling portfolio as it seeks to dispose of non-core assets.

Tesco posted annual pre-tax profits of £162m for 2015, marking a significant improvement from the multi-billion pound loss the year before.

More details on the pending deals are expected to be released later today.

Check back for updates.

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