Spain’s DIA to close more than half its stores in Brazil

March 15 (Reuters) – Spanish food retail group DIA said on Thursday it will close 343 stores and three warehouses in Brazil following negative results for its business in the South American country last year.

DIA is betting on divestitures to reduce its net financial debt, which shrank 22% to 422 million euros at the end of 2023 from the prior year.

The aim is to direct the group’s resources towards more profitable markets with better growth potential such as Spain and Argentina, DIA said in a filing to Spanish stock market regulator CNMV.

DIA began its business in Brazil in 2001, where it currently has around 600 stores.

It posted a loss of 154 million euros ($167.5 million) in Brazil in 2023, more than twice that of the 72-million-euro loss the year before, due to strong competition that led to large promotional investments, it said last month.

Last August, the retailer announced it would leave Portugal by early 2024, selling nearly 500 supermarkets there to Auchan Portugal for 155 million euros.

($1 = 0.9194 euros) (Reporting by Matteo Allievi; Editing by David Latona and Janane Venkatraman)

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