A former Morrisons executive landing a 12-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to insider trading is picked up by all the papers today. Paul Coyle, the former treasurer and head of tax at Morrisons was charged after buying Ocado Group shares between February and May 2013, ahead of the tie-up between the two companies in May 2014 (BBC).

Shares in Ocado rocketed after the surprise deal was announced and the online grocer was one of the best performing major stocks in Europe in 2013 (The Telegraph). Coyle made £79,000 from his dealings after using information he had about the impending partnership (The Guardian).

He used two online accounts in the name of his partner to trade shares in Ocado, but was discovered by the Financial Conduct Authority. Coyle has been ordered to pay £15,000 towards prosecution costs and has a confiscation order of £203,234 against him (The Times £).

The Financial Times (£) notes the news comes at a sensitive time for Morrison as it gets ready to announce an expected halving of full-year pre-tax profit.

British farmers are turning their backs on organic food production despite higher demand for it, a study has found. The Times (£) reports that the amount of land in organic production is rising in most European countries but falling in Britain, with only 3.3% of land currently being farmed organically. It seems farmers shunned the more expensive products when demand dropped off during after 2009 during the heart of the recession. However, according to Tim Bevan, farm business adviser at the Soil Association, more generous subsidies available from this year should help to reverse the decline.

The BBC has news that US retail giant Target is planning to cut several thousand jobs as it tries to slash $2bn (£1.3bn) in costs over the next two years. The cuts will happen mainly in its US headquarters and in India, the company said.

Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley has pulled a fast one by sending chief executive David Foley to appear before a committee of MPs. The Scottish Affairs committee wanted to grill Ashley on the collapse of his USC subsidiary in Scotland and use of zero-hours contracts. The committee is conducting an investigation into how the business collapsed without any obligations to its staff. Committee chairman Ian Davidson MP said he retained the right to call Ashley if questions remained unanswered (The Guardian).

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