But only hours later a filing on the Stock Exchange news service showed Lewis had bought 99,950 shares worth £199,900.
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At the half-year results on Wednesday, Lewis said he had refrained from buying shares due to a company policy that had previously been kept secret.
Lewis has faced criticism for not purchasing shares since he joined a year ago, particularly after the boss of rival grocer Morrisons, Dave Potts, snapped up a stake after he took the helm in March.
“We operate under that restriction to this day because we think that is the right corporate governance to have when you are going through this sort of turnaround and have these sorts of issues”.
In addition to Lewis, the company’s Chief Financial Officer Alan Stewart and Chairman John Allan bought 50,000 shares at 202.4p a share and 50,891 shares at 196.5p a share. Senior independent director Richard Cousins and non-executive Mikael Ohlsson have also invested in the business for the first time, acquiring 17,357 and 5,000 shares respectively.
A spokesperson said that with the company’s one year review of the business officially complete, they had gone ahead and bought shares.
Lewis played down concerns Tesco might tap investors for cash to rebuild its balance sheet, saying it would “stay focused on generating better returns from the assets we’ve got”.
The purchases come as Tesco’s governance practices are under a microscope.
However, the directors have five years from joining Tesco to reach this target and the company includes shares awarded for free to Lewis and Stewart as part of their remuneration package.
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Tesco rose 2.4 percent to 201.75 pence Thursday in London.
