Asda’s headquarters in Leeds is to be demolished and hundreds of Sainsbury’s staff moved from London, following the £14.1billion merger of the two supermarkets, writes The Daily Mail. Asda House, where 3,000 people work, is set to be rebuilt as an enlarged base for staff of both supermarkets, the Mail has learned. Hundreds of Sainsbury’s staff will then be moved from London to the Yorkshire as the company looks to axe £200m of costs following the merger. (The Daily Mail)

Poundworld could plunge into administration within days if the company’s owner fails to land a buyer for the business. Administrators are waiting in the wings after Alteri Investors pulled out of the race to snap up the discount chain as a solvent company (The Telegraph). Sources said that TPG Capital, Poundworld’s owner, did not intend to put more money into the group, which has 355 stores. No serious buyers had come forward by the deadline of Monday this week, giving the company few options but to call in the administrators (The Guardian).

The founder of Poundworld is putting together a rescue package to prevent its collapse after a potential buyer walked away from rescue talks. Chris Edwards built the chain from a market stall and is understood to be mulling a bid to buy it back from private equity owner TPG Capital. (The Daily Mail)

WH Smith has enjoyed rising demand for World Cup stickers and Royal Wedding memorabilia as it reported yet another strong performance in its travel stores, offsetting a fall in sales on the high street (The Telegraph). The newsagent said yesterday that its sales had continued to rise in the third quarter, driven by strong sales of books, newspapers, sweets and tourist knick-knacks at transport hubs at home and overseas (The Times £). Shares in WH Smith jump 6% as retailer’s airport and railway stores more than make up for its high street blues (The Daily Mail).

WH Smith is a genuine modern-day enigma, writes Ben Marlow in The Telegraph. The retailer has a rich pedigree but it has become synonymous with shoddy customer service and overpriced goods. Yet, despite offering a pretty rotten retail experience, the chain somehow continues to be one of the very few to defy the gloom currently enveloping the high street. (The Telegraph)

Amazon is to create more than 2,500 jobs in the UK this year, including 650 head office roles, as the online retailer says it remains committed to expanding in Brexit Britain (The Guardian). Amazon to hire another 2,500 permanent staff in the UK by end of the year (The Daily Mail). Amazon is ploughing further investment into the UK by creating 2,500 jobs in a nationwide hiring spree (The Telegraph). The e-commerce behemoth said the new jobs will be across a wide range of areas, from coding to engineering and photography (The Financial Times £).

Brown-Forman, the company behind Jack Daniel’s whiskey, cautioned on Wednesday that the escalating US trade war over tariffs could negate the benefits from a strengthening global economy and said the uncertainty was making it difficult to accurately predict future earnings (The Financial Times £).

Officials in Brussels said that they had “no other option” but to start hitting dozens of US products, including Harley-Davidson motorcycles, bourbon whiskey and Levi’s jeans. (The Times £)

The war on plastic wipes £375m off packaging firm RPC despite solid full-year results, with a 36% increase in revenue. (The Daily Mail)

On Monday, in what would appear to be a desperate plea for attention, the International House of Pancakes announced that it is changing its name from Ihop to Ihob. The internet, predictably, flipped. (The Guardian)

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