The French supermarket group Auchan Retail has decided to sell 18 loss-making stores in Vietnam, said CEO Edgar Bonte.

Trolleys in an Auchan supermarket in Vietnam (Photo: vnexpress.net)

Those outlets generated 45 million EUR (50.4 million USD) in revenue in 2018 and are still suffering losses.

The French group, entering in Vietnam in 2015, has developed a total of 21 stores in the country. After the closure of three outlets, it currently runs 18 supermarkets, 13 of which are in Ho Chi Minh City, four in Hanoi and one in Tay Ninh povince.

Auchan is now negotiating with different retailers in Vietnam to find a partner to take over its business in the future. For now, it still maintains normal operations.

The exit from Vietnam follows Auchan’s earlier deal to sell around 1,600 stores of its loss-making Auchan Retail Italia arm to the local co-operative retail group Conad. 

In March this year, Auchan Holding announced in a statement a net loss of 1.145 billion EUR in 2018. The overall turnover was down 3.2 percent to 50.99 billion EUR.