LONDON, March 30 (Reuters) - Tesco, Britain'sbiggest retailer, has started the process to sell-off land fromabandoned supermarket development projects, seeking to raisecash to help to finance its recovery plan under its new boss.
The group said on Monday that it had appointed real estateadviser Savills to market six British sites, atWolverhampton, Birmingham, Burton-on-Trent, Leeds, Doncaster andin the West Midlands.
Dave Lewis, who joined as Tesco chief executive inSeptember, is pursuing efficiency measures, cutting costs andselling assets to mend the group's finances and fight back fromyears of declining market share, debt-rating downgrades and anaccounting scandal.
The company said in January that it would close 43unprofitable stores and abandon 49 planned developments.
"Where we no longer require land for stores, then we put iton the market so it can be developed by others," a Tescospokesman said.
Shares in Tesco closed up 1.1 percent at 241 pence.
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by David Goodman)