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Asda has said it will "robustly defend" its record on equal pay amid revelations it is facing a legal action potentially involving thousands of workers.

The law firm Leigh Day said it was currently representing hundreds of former and current employees and had been approached by over 19,000 people in total.

The company suggested that a legal victory could result in Asda being forced to hand over back-pay and interest dating back six years.

It said its clients, mostly women, "feel they have been paid less than others within the organisation despite carrying out roles of equal value."

Leigh Day said its case was based on claims that staff in Asda-owned distribution centres were paid more than staff working in the supermarket stores.

The company's employment law expert, Michael Newman, suggested that the implications of the legal claims were big not just for Asda but also other supermarket chains too.

He said: "Our investigations suggest that the jobs are pretty much the same, in that warehouse staff are responsible for taking items off shelves, putting them on pallets and loading them into lorries.

"In the supermarket, they do the reverse: taking the pallets off the lorries, unstacking them and putting the items on the shelves.

"Where the jobs are not similar, we still think they are of equal value."

Asda, which has 175,000 employees, said: "A firm of no win, no fee lawyers is hoping to challenge our award-winning reputation as an equal opportunities employer.

"We do not discriminate and are very proud of our record in this area which, if it comes to it, we will robustly defend."

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

One of Tesco's most prominent institutional shareholders has ditched its remaining stake in the company and cast doubt on the retailer's recovery prospects under its new chief executive.

Sky News has learnt that David Herro, a fund manager at Chicago-based Harris Associates, sold just under 1% of Tesco - worth around £140m at Friday's closing share price - in the days leading up to the company's interim results announcement this week.

Mr Herro has been a vocal steward of Tesco shares during the last two years, initially supporting the strategy of Philip Clarke before his sacking as chief executive in July.

In August, he changed his stance, offloading two-thirds of his firm's stake in Britain's biggest retailer while criticising the performance of its chairman.

The Harris Associates fund manager joins Warren Buffett, the world's most famous investor, in slashing his holding in Tesco.

Mr Buffett recently called his investment in Tesco "a mistake", underscoring the huge task facing Dave Lewis as he bids to rebuild investor confidence in the company.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Herro - once Tesco's seventh-largest investor - confirmed the sale of Harris's remaining shares, saying: "There is a big question about how they will fund their recovery given the decline in operating profit and whether they will sell assets just as they are getting into the dangerous territory of being a distressed seller."

He said he would continue to monitor the situation but added that nothing that had been announced by Tesco this week would prompt him to reinvest at this point.

Tesco's shares are trading at their lowest level in more than a decade as investors take fright at the scale of the strategic and financial challenges confronting it.

Announcing a near-92% fall in half-year statutory pre-tax profits on Thursday, Mr Lewis said he would not be formally announcing a new strategy for the company.

He opted not to dispel City speculation about a potential rights issue, saying that while the company was not "currently" working on a capital-raising, he would "never say never".

Prospective buyers are circling assets including Tesco's valuable Asian retail operations and its data marketing division, Dunnhumby, although no formal sale talks are underway.

Tesco said that it had revised upward a black hole in its half-year profits caused by an accounting mis-statement to £263m and said the issue pre-dated this financial year.

Sir Richard Broadbent, its under-fire chairman, said he would step down, while Tesco is withholding termination payments to Mr Clarke and the former chief financial officer pending the outcome of a probe by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The turmoil has forced Tesco to shore up its financial position by turning to five banks to lend the company £1bn each in order to head off the prospect of lenders calling in existing loans.

Insiders said that the syndicate included Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and HSBC, although Tesco refused to comment.