Retail in Asia

In Shops

Duty-free loss piles woes on troubled Lotte Group

Troubled South Korean retail giant Lotte, already struggling with a prolonged founder-family feud, has seen its business woes deepen with the loss of the state licence for one of its biggest duty-free shops ahead of a key IPO.

The country’s fifth largest business group suffered its latest body-blow at the weekend when South Korea’s customs agency awarded its concession to a rival bidder – the heavy industries giant Doosan Co.

Lotte, which had held the licence for five years, had already invested KRW300 billion (USD258.2 million) in the store and the customs agency decision shattered its ambitions to grow it into the world’s largest duty-free outlet over the next decade.