Tesco defends chief's share sale ahead of profit warning

Tesco has defended a senior executive who sold more than £200,000 worth of shares ahead of a profits warning that took £5bn off the company's value.

The supermarket giant said it was confident that its UK chief operating officer had not possessed any price-sensitive information at the time the sale was approved.

It added that Noel "Bob" Robbins sold less than 5% of his shareholding.

Tesco reported its worst Christmas sales results in decades on Thursday.

Mr Robbins sold 50,000 shares at 404.5p on 4 January, a week before the company revealed its UK Christmas sales results, which triggered a 16% drop in its share price.