After making a pretax loss of close to Sh262 Million for the half year ending Dec 31, Uchumi has decided to close it's stores in Uganda and Tanzania.
The new management and CEO Julius Kipng'etich, appointed from Equity Bank in August, decided they would close all the under performing stores.
"Our outlets in Uganda and Tanzania make up only 4.75 percent of our operations, yet they account for over 25 percent of our operating costs," Kipng'etich said on Wednesday. "The two subsidiaries have not made any profit over the last five years, which means they have been draining the parent operations," he added.
On Monday, a few of the workers in Tanzania caused a commotion in one of the stores following speculations that they would not be paid. In Uganda, some of the suppliers broke into one of the stores in Kampala to settle the debt owed to them, BBC Africa reports.
The chain of supermarkets also announced it was shifting focus to the local market with an aim of bringing back the old Uchumi, even with players like Nakumatt and Tuskys dominating the current market.
