The owner of Welcome Break motorway service stations has claimed Brexit has ‘impacted on consumer sentiment’. In a statement ahead of its annual general meeting today, Dublin-based owner Applegreen said Welcome Break’s performance in the UK had been ’satisfactory’ in the midst of ‘challenging’ trading conditions. (The Daily Mail)

The news that Sir Philip Green failed to secure enough backing from creditors in a crucial vote to support an emergency restructuring of his ailing Arcadia Group retail empire yesterday is heavily covered by the papers. He eventually postponed the vote in London yesterday and will meet with creditors over the coming days to drum up more support. (The Financial Times (£), The Times (£), The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The BBC).

Mike Ashley has set his sights on a new high street target with a £52m bid for Game Digital. Sports Direct’s stake in the video game retailer had risen to 38.5%, passing the 30 per cent threshold requiring it to make a bid for the whole business. (The Times £, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, Sky News).

Bernie Sanders brought his years-long crusade against Walmart to the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Arkansas on Wednesday, demanding the nation’s largest retailer raise its wages and put workers on its board. (The Guardian)

Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman expects retaliatory tariffs on American whiskey to weigh on its results again this year, as the distiller remains on a growing list of companies feeling the adverse impact of the US’s trade war with its allies. (The Financial Times £)

Campbell Soup on Wednesday boosted its full-year earnings outlook as its quarterly profit topped analysts’ expectations, driven by growing consumer appetite for the company’s biscuits and snacks like Pepperidge Farm. (The Financial Times £)

Card Factory said it had achieved record sales of its seasonal products in its latest financial quarter (The Times £, The Daily Mail)

In The Daily Mail Alex Brummer uses the examples of Unilever’s aborted corporate relocation to The Neterlands and Sainsbury’s blocked merger with Asda as evidence that City’s legal firms and investment banks are getting it wrong and could be “telling clients what they want to hear so as to collect the big bucks”. (The Daily Mail)

Waitrose’s package-free shopping is a PR move that will change little, argues The Guardian. Like trials selling misshapen veg and pushes on sustainable fish, it is just another fashionable supermarket spasm.

If China can wean consumers back on to homegrown infant formula, it would hit foreign groups that have benefited. Shares in Australian milk suppliers, such as a2, Bellamy’s and Bub’s dropped steeply this week. Nestlé and Danone also participate in China’s $27bn baby formula market. Scale and diversity protected their shares. (The Financial Times £)

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