Grocer Tesco has revealed an alliance with Carrefour of France, complete with a three-year “operational framework” to guard against corporate secrets falling into the wrong hands.

Its a  combination that combines buying clout to demand lower prices from suppliers- but it is also a model that may prove critical for addressing the challenge of the Sainsburys-Asda deal and more specifially the threat of bohemoth Amazon to the food retail space.

As Renault-Nissan and other significant alliances have shown- a looser fit rather than an outright merger may be just as effective.

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The Financial Reporting Council is looking into into KPMG’s audit of ex-Bargain Booze owner Conviviality, which went into administration in April.

The watchdog is investigating the preparation of the company’s financial statements for the year to April 2017.