UK supermarket giant Tesco has announced the sale of its business in Poland for £181m (€200m). In a release to investors last week, Tesco said it had agreed a deal with the Danish entity Salling Group for its more than 300 stores in Poland, along with its associated distribution centres and head office.

Tesco said it expects its net proceeds from the deal to be around £165m (€183m). While Tesco has agreed to sell all of its Polish stores, the UK supermarket said it would retain 19 properties in Poland that it plans to continue seeking value from.

Tesco said its Polish stores generated sales of £1.4bn (€1.5bn) last year, but made an operating loss of £24m (€27m). Tescos sale of its Polish operations follows similar retreats from its businesses in Malaysia and Thailand last year.

Tesco CEO Dave Lewis said the supermarket had stronger market positions, growth prospects and profit margins in its businesses in central Europe and the sale of its Polish stores would allow it to focus on its businesses in Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.