Female-founded Birdies achieves B Corp certification

Image: Birdies, Facebook Footwear brand Birdies has announced that it has achieved B Corporation certification, which it said has reinforced its ongoing commitment towards “making a great impact for good”. The female-founded company joins over 5,000 global businesses to receive such a certification. To become a B Corp, Birdies underwent a “rigorous review” by B Lab, the governing body of the certification which examines a company’s overall impact through all aspects of its operations. It builds on the San Francisco-based brand’s efforts to prioritise socially responsible action, with it previously launching a series of mentorships, charity initiatives and community building programmes through notable partnerships. In a release, Bianca Gates, Birdies’ co-founder and CEO, said: “Birdies B Corp certification reflects our ongoing commitment to building a brand that doesn’t just offer feel-good shoes, but one that offers shoes you can feel good about wearing. “We’re honoured to join this incredible movement of socially and environmentally responsible businesses dedicated to the same goal of creating tangible and visible change.” The brand’s other co-founder, Marisa Sharkey, said that the B Corp will offer Birdies a “powerful way” to accelerate its transformation around how it does business, enabling it to participate in making the world a better place.
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Frasers says MySale offer unconditional as it surpasses 50 percent stake

Image: MySale, Facebook Following a series of attempts to acquire the entire ordinary share capital of MySale, Frasers Group has now said its mandatory offer for the marketplace has become unconditional. In a release published through the London Stock Exchange, the fashion conglomerate, which counts the likes of Sports Direct and House of Fraser among its portfolio, noted that the revision comes as its holding in the company has grown over a majority stake. As of 5pm GMT, October 17, the group now owns or has received valid acceptances of MySale shares representing 50.59 percent of its issued shared capital. In the release, the group said that if it receives acceptances under its current mandatory offer or otherwise acquires 90 percent of shares, it intends to acquire the marketplace’s remaining shares under the same terms of its initial offer. It added that if it holds 75 percent of the issued share capital of MySale, it will consider making an application to cancel the admission of the Australian company’s shares to trade on AIM. Frasers notes intention to continue snapping up shares Frasers does intend to continue acquiring additional shares of the retailer, and noted that any shareholders who wished to transfer their holdings to Frasers can do so through a market sale or accepting its mandatory offer. The group initially announced it would be making an offer on MySale on August 17, later confirming this intention with an offer at a price of two pence per MySale share. Since the announcement, it has continued snapping up bigger stakes in the retailer as it put pressure on its board of directors to accept the offer. While MySale’s board at first requested shareholders to decline Frasers’ offer on the basis that it “undervalued” the company, it later reversed its decision and urged its shareholders to approve, despite continuing to disagree with the two pence share price. Yesterday, October 17, Frasers once again put further pressure on MySale shareholders by urging them to accept the offer, after noting its intention to possibly take the company off AIM and re-register it as a Jersey private company. The closing date of the recommended mandatory offer is 1pm GMT, November 1.
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Retailers hiring holiday staff numbers reflective of state of economy

Pexels Holiday hiring at retailers has always been a sign of a healthy economy. People are shopping more, seasonal paychecks are putting more money in retail workers' pockets, and retailers have high hopes of ending Q4 with a healthy bottom line. This year with caution over inflation, holiday hiring is looking like a mixed bag, reflective of retailers' caution about the current recession we are in. Target is adding its usual 100,000 holiday workers. Meanwhile, Walmart is only hiring 40,000 compared to its past 150,000. Amazon has frozen corporate hiring, but plans on hiring a staggering 400,000 retail workers. Will the holiday hiring spree be what it used to be? As early as September, CNN reported companies were growing cautious of holiday hiring plans. Employers are already pulling back on the normal holiday hiring spree. Economists say this is a forecast of a recession, but there’s also the argument that we are already in a global recession. The bright side is, despite inflation, consumer spending has held up well. Still, with the recent hike in interest rates by The Federal Reserve, economists and retailers are cautious, as this could still affect holiday spending. This year is unique compared to last year because much of last year’s uptick in seasonal hiring was due to retailers trying to stave off staffing shortages from rising COVID-19 infections. Many companies are planning on trimming hiring this year, but others, like UPS, are continuing with their usual holiday target of 100,000 hires. ZipRecruiter chief economist Julia Pollak recently appeared on Yahoo Finance Live to discuss holiday hiring and the state of the labor market. During her segment, Pollak said this is the toughest environment employers can be in for the holidays. Employers are simultaneously concerned about ensuring they have enough staff to meet customer demand for the holidays, and at the same time are also concerned about a possible economic downturn. The bright side is layoffs and firings remain very low, and jobless claims also remain low. Job gains are also still incredibly broad-based. The downside is consumers are cautious about big-ticket purchases. Car purchases are declining, and car dealerships are laying people off. Hiring is also interesting right now in other sectors, as there are hiring freezes and job losses in some, but strategic hiring in others. Some companies looking for employees are even speeding up times to hire as part of strategic growth strategies. Even branches of USPS have recently reported they are swamped as they are preparing to ramp up holiday hiring. Amazon also announced a week ago that 150,000 of the holiday workers they plan on hiring will get a 3000 dollar signing bonus. One silver lining for this year is that two years after the COVID-19 lockdown, consumers have safely returned to in-door shopping. While holiday sales growth is expected to slow compared to last year due to inflation, growth is still expected. Deloitte estimates growth between 4 percent and 6 percent in 2022, compared to an increase of 15.1 percent during last year’s period, but at least the economy isn’t looking like it will contract. Holiday hiring, very much like the economy, looks strong in some areas and weak in others. If the holiday hiring period is any indication, the economy will continue being temperamental with highs and lows.
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