Spanish retailer Dia has announced plans to sell off its French operations, saying it wants to focus on its core markets. The hard discount giant has been recording losses in the country for some time, and has continued to struggle despite introducing new concepts and initiatives.

Dia currently operates more than 800 outlets in the country, and analyst estimates have pegged its value at around €500m (including debt). The announcement came even as the Spanish group reported its first-quarter results, which saw underlying net profit rise by 9.7% to €40.1m, and underlying sales rise by 9.5% to €2.14bn (-2.1% on a reported basis). Sales in Iberia were up 0.1% to €1.43bn, while its emerging markets delivered an underlying 27.3% jump to €707m.