TESCO can not reveal whether any of its Dorset stores will be among the 43 it is closing.

The company’s chief executive Dave Lewis announced today the closure of a raft of ‘unprofitable’ branches and the scrapping of 49 planned stores.

But the supermarket chain is unable to disclose which of its branches will be affected.

A spokesman said the ‘majority’ of outlets closed will be Express stores. In all there are almost 30 of this type of store in Dorset.

Tesco has two Express stores in Weymouth, one in Dorchester Road and another in Lanehouse Rocks Road.

It also has ‘Metro’ store in St Thomas Street in the town centre, a supermarket on Portland and another in Dorchester.

Tesco has also announced it closing its final salary pension scheme and abandoning its headquarters in Cheshunt after more than 40 years. It is selling its broadband service and its download brand Blinkbox to TalkTalk.

Mr Lewis said: "We have some very difficult changes to make. I am very conscious that the consequences of these changes are significant for all stakeholders in our business but we are facing the reality of the situation.

"Our recent performance gives us confidence that when we pull together and put the customer first, we can deliver the right results."

Like-for-like sales at Tesco over Christmas fell by 0.3 per cent, a marked improvement on earlier declines and on City forecasts. The company also announced yesterday (THUR) that it would be cutting the cost of hundreds of branded products by around a quarter, following price cut announcements by Asda and Sainsbury's.

A spokesman said the company’s first priority is to ‘consult with colleagues who will be impacted by these changes.’ The company would not put a number on job losses but said the closures would be spread across the country. A consultation will take place with affected staff, with full details due by April.