Wednesday newspaper round-up: Shein, BNPL, Marks & Spencer

(Sharecast News) - Chinese fashion behemoth Shein might be the organisation least expected to win applause at an international conference on fashion sustainability, but that's what happened at this week's global fashion summit in Copenhagen. The industry's largest forum for sustainable progress saw the ultra-fast fashion brand praised for making a donation of $15m (£12m) over three years to a charity working at Kantamanto in Accra, the world's largest secondhand clothing market. - Guardian

More than two in five recent buy now, pay later (BNPL) shoppers relied on credit cards or other forms of borrowing to pay off what they owed, the charity Citizens Advice has said. It said the figures showed that shoppers are "piling borrowing on top of borrowing" and underlined the urgent need for BNPL to be regulated. - Guardian

Marks & Spencer will pay its first female chief executive a £750,000 salary for working a four-day week, effectively almost £140,000 more than her male counterpart who will work full-time. Katie Bickerstaffe was announced as the high street stalwart's co-chief executive alongside Stuart Machin in March. - Telegraph

The cost-of-living crisis will be tougher than the pandemic, the boss of Richer Sounds said after its accounts showed it had handed back part of the government support it received during the Covid outbreak. Richer Sounds, the electronics and music retailer majority-owned by its staff, said it had repaid £448,000 of government support last year after its pre-tax profit rose by 52 per cent from £6.48 million to £9.89 million. It said it had done better than expected, with sales edging up from £211 million to £213.7 million, after it had mobilised its "laptop army" of staff to take online and phone orders while shops were shut. - The Times

The windfall tax on energy companies will damage investors' confidence in Britain, according to Centrica, one of the largest businesses in the sector. The Treasury is to introduce a 25 per cent levy on North Sea oil and gas company profits to raise up to £5 billion, needed to help to pay for the support it is giving to eight million households to help them with the soaring cost of living. Oil and gas companies have been reporting huge profits on the back of sharply rising prices exacerbated by the embargo on Russian imports. - The Times