±±¾©Èü³µpk10

From April, Tesco will take the IPC lads' title out of one in seven of its flagship stores and plans to stock Maxim in more of these outlets.

As part of its latest magazine range review, the supermarket downgraded Loaded from a Grade A title, stocked in all 575 of its Superstore and Extra stores, to a Grade C, which covers 497 outlets.

Maxim, meanwhile, is promoted from a Grade C to a Grade B, an increase of 121 stores to 558. Emap's market-leading FHM will remain on sale in all 575 shops.

The Superstore and Extra formats account for almost half of Tesco's 1,252 UK stores and represent 80% of its total floor space.

"The men's lifestyle category is in decline and has been for some time now," a Tesco spokesman said. "Our range of magazines in all categories reflects customer purchasing habits."

However, the move is at odds with the January to June ABCs, in which Loaded's news-stand sales of 164,150 were more than double those of Maxim.

All three titles are set to post double-digit drops in the July to December ABCs, which are published next month, continuing recent trends in the market.

Supermarkets and high-street retailers largely base their magazine ranges on sales patterns, suggesting the move reflects Loaded's underperformance in Tesco's bigger stores. The retailer declined to share confidential sales figures.

Loaded is also priced 80p lower than FHM and Maxim and, while its overall retail sales value was around double that of Maxim in the January to June 2006 ABCs, Tesco is thought to be concerned about the future revenues it is likely to get from Loaded due to the magazine's lower cover price.

Eric Fuller, managing director of IPC's men's lifestyle division, IPC Ignite, claimed that Loaded still outsold Maxim in the Superstore and Extra formats.

He added that the magazine was in 439 more stores across Tesco's entire estate.

Tesco is understood to be alone among supermarkets and high-street retailers in its move, with both Sainsbury's and WHSmith confirming that they were not planning similar changes to their men's magazine ranges.