Bill Ackman, the activist hedge fund manager, has seized a 7.5 per cent stake in Cadbury owner Mondelez in an attempt to force the food group to slash costs or put itself up for sale. The stakebuilding marks the second time in three years that US-based Mondelez has had to contend with an activist, following agitation by Nelson Peltz for the company to merge with PepsiCo’s snacks arm. (The Financial Times £)

Retailers have attacked ‘chaotic’ Sunday trading changes, writes The Times. Local councils could use potential new powers to relax Sunday trade laws to “pick off” retailers they don’t like and promote certain streets and developments to the detriment of others, the paper says. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) warned yesterday that changing the status quo could add further complexity to a sector that is already under pressure and bogged down with red tape. (The Times £)

“Sunday shopping risks depriving us of something precious”, according to Michael Nazir-Ali in The Telegraph. “The economic arguments advanced in favour of change sound unconvincing”, he writes. (The Telegraph)

The Telegraph looks at the challenges facing the new-look Morrisons leadership team. It writes: “Four months on from the so-called “bloodbath in Bradford”, Morrisons’ board is brimming with new life… for now the biggest challenge will be luring shoppers back without past frivolities.” (The Telegraph)

Shops, restaurants and bars in London are bracing themselves for a sharp drop in footfall and bookings as a result of the Tube strike. The British Council of Shopping Centres (BCSC) said that on the day of the last strike on 9 July, London shopping mall suffered a nine per cent drop in visitors compared with the same day last year. Footfall also dropped on the days either side of the strike, falling by 1.3 per cent on 8 July and by 3.7 per cent on 10 July as the city struggled to get back to normal. (City AM)

Morrisons faces a day of action today by dairy farmers angry at milk price cuts they say are forcing them out of business. The protests – outside the supermarket’s distribution centres – come as farmers prepare for wider action on Friday with a “trolley dash” in which they hope to clear supermarket shelves of milk up and down the country. (The Guardian)

Singapore’s Fraser & Neave has agreed to sell its controlling stake in Myanmar’s biggest brewery to a Myanmar government-linked group for $560m, ending a lengthy dispute that had raised fears over economic interference. The sale comes as international brewing giants including Heineken and Carlsberg have set up local brewing facilities in the country. (The Financial Times £)

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