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Here are the top business stories making the headlines in the morning newspapers.


Railway disputes hit Scottish shops

Disruption on Scotland's railways has helped dent its retail recovery, a business organisation said as footfall remains well below pre-Covid levels.

Footfall decreased by 15.8% in June compared to the same month before the pandemic, the Scottish Retail Consortium said.

The Press and Journal says this is worse than the UK average decline of 10.5%.

Ewan MacDonald-Russell, head of policy and external affairs at the consortium, warned: "Scotland's retail footfall continues to languish behind the rest of the UK with a second successive month as the weakest performer.

"Rail disruption and concern about the cost-of-living appear to have deterred visitors as footfall only saw a modest 0.6% improvement to remain 15.8% below pre-pandemic trading."

ScotRail, which was nationalised by the Scottish Government in April, is still operating a limited timetable after drivers in the union Aslef refused to work overtime in a protest over pay.

And the RMT brought railways to a standstill for part of June in a UK-wide strike because of a separate pay dispute with Network Rail and some Department of Transport rail operating companies.

Andy Sumpter, retail consultant for Sensormatic Solutions, said: "June delivered a rollercoaster ride for the high street - the highs of the Jubilee jump in footfall, where retailers benefited from the beginning of the month, was, in part, derailed by the rail strikes as some shoppers stayed at home to avoid travel disruption."

Shell to reverse write-offs

Shares in energy giant Shell closed last night 1.66% ahead after it said it will reverse previous write-offs worth up to £3.8billion this quarter.

Energy Voice says the decision was prompted by soaring commodity prices, with global benchmark Brent oil reaching $133.18 per barrel earlier this year.

Shell expects to reverse post-tax impairments of between £2.9billion and £3.8billion, based on what it thinks it will be paid for its oil and gas over the coming years.

The FTSE 100 company told shareholders: "Shell has revised its mid and long-term oil and gas commodity prices, reflecting the current macroeconomic environment as well as updated energy market demand and supply fundamentals.

"This resulted in a review of Shell's upstream and integrated gas previously impaired assets."

Shell - whose shares were at £20.07 at the market close - also said it will likely report it produced more gas than expected in the second quarter of this year.

It told investors in a trading update it expects Q2 results later this month to show output of between 930,000 and 980,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day from its integrated gas operations.

Shell's previous estimate - released in May - was for between 910,000 and 960,000 boe per day.

Underpaid state pension

More people - mostly women - have been underpaid their state pension than previously thought, latest government figures show.

A new estimate suggests 237,000 state pensioners were paid less than their entitlement, with a total of nearly £1.5billion underpaid.

That is 105,000 more people affected than the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) calculated a year ago.

They include widows and divorcees who could have been underpaid for years.

The problem dates back to 1985 and relates to the "old" state pension system. Married women who had a small pension of their own could claim a 60% basic state pension based on their husband's record of contributions. But the BBC says an error at the DWP meant they were not automatically given this money.

Along with widows and divorcees, some will eventually receive all their entitlement, although years later than they should have done. Others will only be able to claim for 12 months of missed payments.

Heathrow strike action suspended

Strike action by about 700 British Airways check-in staff at Heathrow has been suspended after unions said the airline had made a "vastly improved" pay offer.

The Unite union said an agreement was reached after "extensive" talks.

Both Unite and GMB union members will now be balloted on the new pay deal.

"We welcome that BA has finally listened to the voice of its check-in staff," said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham.

Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer, added: "All our members were asking for was what they were owed. British Airways finally moving on pay is long overdue.

"All our members - who are predominantly low-paid women - wanted was to be given back the pay cuts BA imposed on them during the pandemic, threatening them with fire and rehire if they said no."

BA told the BBC it was "very pleased" the unions had decided not to issue dates for industrial action.

"This is great news for our customers and our people," a statement said.

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