Tesco sells Dobbies Garden Centres for £217m
Tesco has sold its garden centre chain Dobbies for ?217m as the retailer continues with its strategy of focusing on its supermarket business.
Dobbies has been sold to a group of investors led by Midlothian Capital Partners and Hattington Capital.
The sale comes a week after the company?announced the sale of UK restaurant chain Giraffe and its Turkish business.
The supermarket giant bought Dobbies in 2007 for ?150m and it is now the UK’s second largest gardening retailer.
It operates 35 garden centres in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. Tesco said that the business contributed ?17m to its annual profits last year.
TESCO
Tesco has embarked on an asset sale programme in recent months, disposing of what it considers to be non-core parts of its business.
In addition to the recent sale of the Giraffe chain and Kipa, Tesco sold its South Korean business, Homeplus, last September for ?4.2bn.
The sales are part of attempts by chief executive Dave Lewis to revive the retail giant’s fortunes.
Announcing the sale of the garden centre business, Mr Lewis said: “Through their hard work and dedication to customer service Dobbies colleagues have built a great business and I would like to thank them for everything they have done.
“It was a difficult decision to sell the business but we believe this agreement will give Dobbies a bright future while allowing our UK retail business to focus on its core strengths.”
