The World Cup and heatwave has fuelled a drink and food supermarket sales surge, new figures today show. Food shops saw their sales grow by 2.2 per cent in the three months to June - their largest amount since May 2001. (The Daily Mail)

The World Cup and the summer heatwave kept British shoppers away from the high street last month, despite encouraging stronger sales of food, drink and barbecues across the country (The Guardian). Hot weather and the World Cup kept shoppers off the high street, pushing retail sales down last month after a strong April and May (The Telegraph).

After a bumper two months retail sales in June disappointed, raising questions about the strength of the rebound and putting an interest rate rise in doubt (The Times £). Retail sales volumes in the UK dropped unexpectedly in June, according to official figures published on Thursday, sending the pound below $1.30 for the first time since September 2017 (The Financial Times £).

Poundworld will disappear from the high street after administrators announced the closure of the discount retailer’s remaining 190 stores with the loss of a further 2,339 jobs (The Times £). Thousands of jobs face the axe at budget retailer Poundworld as all of its 355 stores are set to shut by August 10 (The Daily Mail). Thousands of jobs are at risk as administrators announce that all of the discount shop’s stores will close by 10 August (Sky News). Administrators, Deloitte, said they would continue discussions with interested parties to try to sell the shops which were still open (The BBC).

According to the Telegraph’s store closure tracker, which tracks closures from major retailers, an estimated 1,151 shops have been closed or earmarked for closure since January - potentially putting 20,609 jobs at risk. (The Telegraph)

Unilever is to target shoppers directly with more of its premium products as it fights off the threat from cost-cutting supermarkets. The company behind Marmite and Dove soap said it wanted more of its businesses to adopt the tactics of Dollar Shave Club, which uses a subscription model to sell grooming products online. (The Daily Mail)

Supermarket price wars, intense competition among manufacturers and a truckers’ strike in Brazil have led to lacklustre sales at Unilever (The Times £).

Unilever’s boss has said that the company is “sensitive” to shareholders’ concerns about the company dropping out of the FTSE 100 index when it moves its headquarters to Rotterdam, but shirked responsibility for the upheaval ahead of a vote in October (The Telegraph). Unilever investors are to vote in October on the Anglo-Dutch group’s proposal to abandon its dual-headed legal structure, the consumer goods group said on Thursday as it highlighted its intention to improve corporate governance (The Financial Times £).

The nutrition company fuelling Team Sky’s dominance of the Tour de France today shrugged off “tough” high street trading conditions as customers shunned their local bike shops in favour of shopping online. (The Telegraph)

The nation’s favourite chocolate bar is having a makeover in response to the obesity crisis as a reduced sugar version of the Cadbury Dairy Milk bar will go on sale next year (Sky News). A staple of lunch boxes and peckish workers across the UK - Cadbury’s Dairy Milk - will come in a low-sugar version from next year (The BBC).

The Cau steakhouse chain has been closed with the loss of 540 jobs after the collapse into administration of its parent company Gaucho Group (The Times £). Gaucho Group will make 540 staff redundant at its UK Cau restaurants after collapsing into administration (The Telegraph). Cau will close immediately while 16 Gaucho outlets will still trade as a buyer is sought (The Guardian).

Philip Morris International’s bet on a smoke-free future has hit a snag. The world’s biggest listed tobacco company sharply lowered full-year earnings guidance on Thursday as efforts to win customers for its smokeless devices struggled to gain traction. (The Financial Times £)

Domino’s Pizza has said it will accelerate its capital expenditure this year, in preparation for opening more than 2,000 new stores in the US over the next decade. (The Financial Times £)

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