Kaufhof, the German department store chain, is doing well but its owner Metro is planning to sell it. This was confirmed by its group's CEO Olaf Koch in a interview with WirtschaftsWoche magazine. 

According to Koch, "Kaufhof clearly has a better valuation compared to early last year when we were in talks to sell the chain. The company has made some fantastic progress." WIth the improvement, Koch still is intending to sell the chain.

He added, "The department store business cannot be internationalized in the same way as the wholesale or consumer electronics business. Return on investment is substantially lower."

Koch also ruled out a merger with its rival Karstadt. Karstadt had sold its stake in its sports and luxury stores to Austrian Rene Benko. On this, Koch said, "At the moment we don't seen a reason to look into that option."

Metro is the world's fourth largest retailer and in early 2012 it had suspended the sale of Kaufhof stores because of the lack of funds from its potential buyers. Nicolas Berggruen, who rescued Karstadt back in 2010 from insolvency, had long pushed for the merger between Kaufhof and Karstadt.