Tesco could pull plug on US Fresh & Easy chain if it fails to make a profit
Tesco has indicated that it could pull the plug on its American Fresh & Easy supermarket chain if it continues to make a loss.
Chief executive Philip Clarke made the comments at the supermarket’s AGM on Friday where shareholders criticised the supermarket giant for failing to stem losses at the chain which has not made a profit since launching in 2007.
“If we see there is no chance of success, we’ll do as we’ve just done in Japan,” Clarke said referring to last month’s announcement that the supermarket had entered a deal to exit from the Japanese market.
At the meeting, the Change to Win Investment Group, asked Tesco to form a non-executive committee to review the future of Fresh & Easy and to set targets for its success. However Tesco chairman Sir Richard Broadbent ruled this out saying that the chain’s performance was regularly reviewed by the Tesco board.
Last month Tesco revealed that underlying sales growth at Fresh & Easy had slowed to 3.6% in its first quarter compared with 12.3% in the fourth quarter of last year.
