Tesco plans to scale back on Home Plus

TESCO is eyeing plans to slim down its stand-alone non-foods chain as it regroups and focuses on its core grocery business.

Britain’s biggest retailer, which has some 2,700 stores in the UK, is said to be keen to exit leases it holds on its 13 Home Plus branches following weak sales at the out-of-town warehouse-style outlets.

The group and its property adviser Morgan Williams have been reviewing the stores for six months, while two of the branches – in Staines, in Surrey, and Telford, in Shropshire – are already being formally marketed.

Tesco saw billions of pounds wiped from its shares earlier this month after the group admitted that its £500 million price cut campaign had failed to bring in enough customers.

The company first opened Home Plus stores at retail parks in 2005. The chain includes a branch in Edinburgh.