Cost savings and asset disposals were likely to come before any call on shareholders, he said.

"We think that there is significant opportunities for us to extract value from the business that we have, either from the self help I talked around in terms of costs or dare I say it when we review the portfolio against whatever strategy we decide," Lewis told analysts.

"We will go there first. We are not working on a rights issue today," he said, adding that they would keep all options open, with the caveat that he could never rule anything out.

With trading deteriorating at Tesco and net debt growing, some analysts had speculated the group should consider asking its shareholders for cash to provide the financial firepower to fight back against its rivals.

(Reporting by Neil Maidment and Paul Sandle; writing by Kate Holton; editing by James Davey)