In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper over the weekend David Wild, president of Wal-Mart Germany, said the firm is currently "examining unprofitable locations" and will close them if they are not deemed commercially viable in the long term.

He said some stores are "losing a lot of money" while others are performing excellently - facilitating the need for a specific area review.

This comes as the firm sold three underperforming supermarkets last week, in Dusseldorf-Reisholz, Sigmaringen and Muehldorf, leaving 85 hypermarkets open across the country.

Earlier this year Wal-Mart said it would plough €30m into upgrading the remaining stores, but with the review underway this may now be postponed.

The US retailer's presence in Germany is now at an all-time low since entering the market in 1997.

For Wal-Mart International, higher than expected year-end German operating losses came as a disappointment to the company that has seen a shift in its European fortunes. The weakening of the pound and euro added to the negative impact on sales, management said.

However, overall the international section saw a 22.9 per cent rise in 2006's first-quarter net sales to $17.3bn (€13.7bn), bolstered by three major acquisitions during the period, in Japan and Latin America.

Globally Wal-Mart is the leading food retailer with net sales of $312bn, employing 1.5m workers in 15 countries.