Again, speculation is happening with regard to Belgian retailer Delhaize selling its 95 Delvita supermarkets in Czechia due to disappointing results. In the past (e.g. after selling its 11 Delvita stores in Slovakia to German retailer Rewe in February 2005) Delhaize said that it still had enough leverage in the Czech Republic with its 94 stores. Now Delhaize refuses to comment as well, but it will disclose its future strategy in Czechia via a press conference in Prague, coming Thursday.

“Recently we invested a lot in Delvita’s profitability and in the chain’s commercial and merchandising abilities”, comments Delhaize’s spokesman Hans Michiels. When asked if Delvita’s performance is disappointing given this investment, he says: “We all know that the Czech Republic is a very competitive market. Despite this we also see encouraging things happening there.” Through the grapevine, names of Tesco and Rewe are heard as possible buyers. Delvita would fit in Tesco’s strategy of opening smaller sized outlets. Rewe however is said to have the priority option to snap up (some of) the Czech Delvita stores. When it bought the 11 Slovak Delvita stores in 2005, Rewe allegedly included such a clause in the deal with Delhaize.