In France and (perhaps) across central Europe, Lidl goes on a spree: almost 600 shops in its sights
In France and (perhaps) across central Europe, Lidl goes on a spree: almost 600 shops in its sights
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Lidl is buying in France and, probably, elsewhere too. In this case, from Tesco. In the Hexagon, the deal is by no means conditional.
The German chain, the most significant in our Continent, has just acquired 17 Auchan supermarkets. The deal will now be scrutinised by the Paris Autorité de la concurrence.
Fifteen Auchan supermarkets become Lidl stores
Although Auchan Retail closed the 2025 with positive results, turnover, 32,142 billion euros (+1,5%), was driven especially by the international markets. As a corollary, it should be remembered that a very recent problem is instead linked to the well-known and recent troubles in Russia, which, however, have nothing whatsoever to do with performance.
During the financial year, the EBITDA proved to be 1.025 billion euros, +16,1%, while in its home market a reorganisation plan is under way, due, according to an analysis by the newspaper Lsa, to a cumulative loss of 2,7 billion euros over the last five years.
This has led locally to the disposal of several commercial sites, including to other operators: for example, Groupment Mosquetaires acquired 72.
(Photo credits: by Katsutoshi Seki, via Wikimedia Commons)
Tesco will sell 561 stores. Dutch and Polish operators challenge Lidl
But Schwarz Gruppe would be targeting an even richer haul, consisting of the561 Tesco stores operating in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
As Reuters explains, paraphrasing an article in the Financial Times, the English company had in fact instructed Goldman Sachs and Citi to handle the complicated dossier.
Although none of the parties involved, least of all the advisers, wanted to confirm the ongoing negotiations, it should be said that Lidl is not alone, but will have to contend with other powerful rivals: the Dutch Ahold Delhaize (92,4 billion euros in net turnover) and the Polish Biedronka (25,3 billion in 2025).
Big, but never as big as Lidl, which alone, that is, separated from its parent company's accounts, has a weight of 140,2 billion euros, up by more than 6 points on 2024.
(Photo credits: by David Wright, Tesco, Barton-Upon-Humber)
Great Britain accounts for 70% of Tesco
Why should Tesco sell? Because its strategy is to focus increasingly on the British domestic market and because, as far back as 2015, the English leader had already sold off a substantial share of its foreign operations.
Tesco Group, in the financial year ending in February 2026, achieved revenue worth 73,71 billion pounds (almost 85 billion euros; +5,4% compared with the corresponding period), operating income of 3,19 billion and net profit of 1,79 billion pounds. The UK and Ireland carry overwhelming weight, amounting to 60,25 billion pounds (more than 70%).
This article was translated from the original Italian version with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the original Italian version.
