"All funding options are still on the table," Lewis said on a conference call. The CEO said he wants to "realize as much from the business as we can" before he considers a rights offering of new shares to strengthen the balance sheet.
Tesco confirmed that it won't pay a final dividend as it seeks to preserve cash, and said a review of options for the Dunnhumby data-analytics unit is "well advanced". The company said in January that a sale was among options for the business, which analysts have valued at about 2 billion pounds.
Pension deficit
To cut the pension deficit, Tesco has agreed with the trustees to pay 270 million pounds a year into its main UK program, the company said. Consultation has started with members to close the defined-benefit plan to new entrants.
"It sounds like they have got their heads round the pension deficit," Kantar's Roberts said. "They do have facilities in place to deal with the debt."
Tesco said efforts to win back customers are starting to take hold. Same-store sales in the UK fell 1.7 percent, excluding fuel and value-added tax, compared with declines of more than 5 percent in each of the previous two quarters.
"By focusing on the fundamentals of availability, service and targeted price reductions, we have seen a steady increase in footfall, transactions and, most significantly, volumes," Lewis said in the statement. "More customers are buying more things at Tesco."
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