Report: Sainsbury Fails in Egypt because of ‘Links with Israel’

Published April 9th, 2001 - 02:00 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

One of Britain's largest food retailers, Sainsburys, has announced it is pulling out of Egypt with expected losses of more than a hundred-and-fifty million dollars, reported Bloomberg.com on Monday.  

The company, which had acquired more than fifty stores, is ending its two-year-old partnership with an Egyptian firm.  

The failed venture may have been an indirect casualty of the Arab-Israeli conflict, said the news service.  

BBC.online reported that local Egyptian traders who had been undercut by Sainsbury's prices encouraged a rumor last year that the company had Israeli connections.  

It added that traders were delighted when mobs threw stones at a Sainsbury branch near the Pyramids. 

The chief executive of Sainsbury's, Sir Peter Davis, told the BBC the company's plans had been too ambitious – Albawaba.com  

 

© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

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