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 Tesco announced the sale of UK restaurant chain Giraffe and its Turkish business.
Tesco bought Dobbies in 2007 for £150m and it is now the UK’s second largest gardening retailer.
Dobbies – which has its headquarters in Lasswade, near Edinburgh – operates 35 garden centres in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.
Tesco said that the business contributed £17m to its annual profits last year.
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 Tesco 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.”