Tesco is pulling out of the Czech and Slovak markets and selling its stores to Ahold Delhaize of the Netherlands, operator of the Albert chain. Pres. Tomáš Prouza of the SOCR retailers' union told Czech TV on Fri. that Tesco is among the least-profitable of the chains here and has had fewer resources for investment and modernization. Prouza has long been known as the chief advocate of the German-owned retailers. Pres. Jan Doležal of the Agrarian Chamber called him this in Sept. 2023 and wondered whether Prouza, as an adviser at the time to Industry Min. Jozef Síkela of STAN, was giving Síkela tips on how to be on good terms with the Germans because they had the main say in choosing EU commissioners. The Prouza-Síkela relationship was also important because the industry minister is in charge of the ČOI retail inspectorate. Since Síkela left the ministry to join the EU Commission, ČOI fines against the German retailers for deceptive practices have risen sharply, whereas Tesco has remained one of the lower-fined chains. In this age of trick capitalism, deceiving the customer is crucial for the bottom line. Tesco apparently hasn't been very good at it or decided not to try to be.