Wesfarmers sells shops and supermarkets

Wesfarmers has sold 45 of its Coles supermarkets and eight Liquorland shops to independent grocer FoodWorks.

The deal will reduce Wesfarmers’ costs and allow it to invest in other Coles stores. FoodWorks, which now has 750 Australian stores, paid around Aus$35m (£17m).

The shops sold generated a combined annual turnover of around Aus$450m (£219m), according to Wesfarmers.