Tesco’s former UK finance boss has accused the supermarket group of “throwing him under a bus” and abandoning truth and justice for its own “commercial imperatives”. (The Times £)

The Times (£) has an interview with former Tesco finance director Carl Roberg after his acquittal in which he says “I try not to be angry, but huge mistakes have been made both by Tesco and the SFO and it is just not right”.

A former Tesco executive was acquitted by a UK criminal court on Wednesday over a £250m accounting scandal at the grocer, bringing an end to one of the highest-profile criminal prosecutions brought by the Serious Fraud Office (The Financial Times £). The last of the three Tesco executives accused of masterminding a fraud that triggered a financial crisis at the company has been acquitted, leaving the Serious Fraud Office without a single conviction for the accounting scandal that wiped £1.5bn off the value of Tesco shares in one day (The Guardian)

Carl Rogberg, plus the other two Tesco executives acquitted of fraud charges, are entitled to be furious. They have been found not guilty in a case that can only be described as a humiliation for the Serious Fraud Office (The Guardian). A third former Tesco director has spoken out after being formally cleared of charges linked to a £250m overstatement of profits by the chain (Sky News). Tesco’s former UK finance director feels he was made a scapegoat for the retailer’s accounting scandal that wiped £1bn off the company’s value (The BBC).

Rogberg and his City law firm Norton Rose Fulbright lost no time in firing both barrels at the SFO and Tesco. He described the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA), under which Tesco agreed to pay a £129million penalty, as a ‘worthless and dishonest piece of paper’ and suggested the fine was ‘needlessly paid’. (The Daily Mail)

The ruling raises serious questions about why the company agreed a £129m plea bargain with the Serious Fraud Office since no one has been convicted (The Financial Times £). As if one black hole in the Tesco accounts wasn’t already enough. Now it looks as if chief executive Dave Lewis may have created another one himself — by foolishly signing a £129 million plea bargain in April 2017 with the Serious Fraud Office (The Times £).

Leading solicitors have lambasted the deferred prosecution agreement regime after the Tesco fraud case. (The Times £)

The parent company behind café chain Patisserie Valerie has closed 71 branches, resulting in more than 900 job losses a day after it collapsed into administration (The Financial Times £). The collapse of Patisserie Valerie has dealt a fresh blow to Debenhams as the cafe chain closed outlets at the department store (The Daily Mail)

The administrator of Patisserie Valerie is confident of selling the failed café chain, but Luke Johnson is said to be unlikely to buy it back (The Times £). David Scott, a veteran restaurateur who sold his former business Druckers to Patisserie Valerie more than a decade ago, has lined up advisers and will make a bid for most of the remaining 122 outlets (The Telegraph).

Luke Johnson has made at least £20m during the past 12 years from Patisserie Valerie, the bakery chain that went into administration on Tuesday with the loss of more than 900 jobs (The Financial Times £). Luke Johnson, the multimillionaire chairman of collapsed cafe chain Patisserie Valerie, has extracted more than £40m from the business since the cafe group floated on the stock market less than five years ago (The Guardian).

The Telegraph asks “five key questions for Patisserie Valerie and its under-fire boss Luke Johnson”.

Some 70,000 retail jobs were lost in the final months of 2018 and nearly a third of retail businesses plan to shed staff in the coming months, according to a new report that underlines the tough trading conditions on the high street (The Guardian). An estimated 70,000 jobs were lost in the retail sector last year as the industry battled a consumer spending slowdown and surging costs (Sky News). UK shops and retailers employ 70,000 fewer people than they did a year ago as the High Street continues to decline, a survey indicates (The BBC).

‘No deal would be horrific’: say Welsh farmers bracing themselves for Brexit. Almost all Welsh meat exported from the UK goes to EU countries. (The Guardian)

John Lewis is to close its first shop in 13 years, putting 127 jobs at risk, in the latest sign of pressure on the high street. (The Times £)

Procter & Gamble’s plan to raise prices and refresh its product line-up appeared to be bearing early fruit, according to its latest quarterly results on Wednesday, as cost pressures continue to challenge the consumer goods industry (The Financial Times £). Beauty products and higher prices helped Procter & Gamble to beat Wall Street’s expectations for the fourth quarter and raise its full-year outlook yesterday (The Times £).

After a bloody proxy fight with Nelson Peltz through 2017 and a generally sour sentiment that has gripped the large-cap consumer product sector, decent organic growth is enough to stoke up investors, writes the FT’s Lex column. (The Financial Times £)

Pernod Ricard has named influential French businesswoman Patricia Barbizet to the newly created post of lead independent director on its board, in a bid to improve its governance amid a challenge from an aggressive activist investor. (The Financial Times £)

Christmas trading proved to a sweet spot for Hotel Chocolat. The upmarket confectionery brand said that revenue had increased by 15 per cent year-on-year for the 13 weeks to December 30, with growth in its retail, wholesale and digital operations. (The Times £)

WH Smith posted a rise in sales over the Christmas period as growth in its travel division continued to offset declines across its high street shops (The Telegraph). Strong sales in airports, stations and motorway services have more than offset a slowdown on the high street for WH Smith (The Times £). ‘WH Smith’s focus on travel is a masterstroke’, City analyst claims as the retailer enjoys soaring sales from airport and railway station shops (The Daily Mail).

Marston’s will bolster its balance sheet by raising £200m with the sale of unwanted pubs and cutting back on investment for its remaining estate (The Telegraph). The pubs group and brewer behind Hobgoblin beer is slashing its expansion plans by two thirds in an attempt to allay concerns over its £1.4bn of borrowings (The Times £).

Budget boozer chain JD Wetherspoon warns higher costs mean profits will fall short as its Brexit-backing boss Tim Martin ups the ante against remainers. (The Daily Mail)

Britain’s seemingly unquenchable thirst for gin saw consumers buy 66m bottles last year, a 41% annual rise, fuelling a spirit-making boom that has led to the number of distilleries in England overtaking Scotland for the first time. (The Guardian)

Europe’s biggest plastics packaging company RPC Group has come under fire after agreeing to be bought for £3.3bn. (The Times £)

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