Tesco to leave Japanese market after nine years

Tesco has announced that it is to exit the Japanese marketplace.

The UK supermarket group is to leave Japan in a two-stage process that will first see it sell 50% of its Tesco Japan subsidiary to the country's second-largest retail group, Aeon.

Tesco will then invest £40m in the joint venture before its eventual exit from the business. So far, no deadline for when this will happen has been made public.

The UK firm entered Japan in 2003.

Philip Clarke, Tesco's chief executive, said: "I thank our colleagues in Japan, who have done an excellent job for the business - in particular over recent months.

"We are very pleased to announce this deal with Aeon today, and are confident that this will deliver the best outcome for our staff, for our customers in Japan and for our shareholders."

Tesco first said last year that it wished to sell its Japanese business.