Tesco is considering selling off its struggling Polish division as boss Dave Lewis continues to refocus the retailer on its core UK business.

The supermarket giant has kicked off a review of its Polish operations, details of which have emerged just days before Tesco unveils its interim results.

According to Bloomberg, the review is at an early stage and Tesco could yet decide against a disposal.

Tesco declined to comment.

The grocer’s Polish business is its largest in central Europe with 348 stores. But it has struggled in recent years amid fierce competition and changes to Sunday trading laws.

In its last financial year, it suffered an operating loss of £11m on sales of £1.9bn.

Tesco shuttered 62 stores in Poland last year and started to scale back some of its biggest supermarkets, downsizing some and selling off eight hypermarkets. The moves helped the Polish division move into profit during the second half of the year.

Despite those moves, Tesco’s businesses in Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia are now all outperforming Poland.

Tesco boss Lewis has not been afraid to retrench from overseas markets during his time in charge of Britain’s biggest grocer. He has overseen the £4.2bn sale of its Homeplus business in South Korea and also sold off a majority stake in its Turkish chain, Kipa.

Tesco is expected to post flat sales during the first half of its 2019/20 fiscal year when it updates the market on Wednesday.

Operating profits are expected to hit £999m in the core UK and Ireland business, or £1.33bn for the wider Tesco group.

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