It looks like secateurs at dawn. Tesco on Wednesday appeared to tighten its grip on Dobbies, as the garden centre group it controls announced a vast equity issue that could dilute the stake held by Scottish entrepreneur and rival shareholder Sir Tom Hunter.

The £150m equity issue – larger than Dobbies’ market capitalisation and underwritten by Tesco – is the latest skirmish in a year-long battle by the supermarket group to secure total ownership of Dobbies. Tesco believes the gardening sector will be fast-expanding and should be relatively immune to a consumer slowdown. Dobbies is one of only a few chains in a highly fragmented market dominated by small independent operators.