Business in brief: Event to focus on fed contracts

Spokane’s Women’s Business Center is hosting a session Friday morning on landing contracts with area government agencies or with Fairchild Air Force Base.

Aimed at small-business owners and managers, the free event runs 8 a.m. to noon at the East Central Community Center, 500 S. Stone St.

More than 20 businesses will be represented. They will meet with a panel of area procurement officers who work at the air base, the Community Colleges of Spokane, the city of Spokane and other groups.

Any business wanting information about federal contracting services is encouraged to attend, said Laurie S. Roth-Donnell, the business center manager.

The main focus will be on business owners qualifying for certification with Washington’s Procurement and Technical Assistance Center program, she said.

A panel of local experts will share information with attending businesses, and from 10:30 a.m. to noon there will be a business trade fair.

Smartphone woes costing Sony

TOKYO – Sony expects its annual loss to swell to $2 billion and has canceled dividends for the first time in more than half a century after writing down the value of its troubled smartphone business.

Citing intense competition, especially from Chinese rivals, Sony said Wednesday it anticipates a net loss of $2.15 billion for the fiscal year that ends March 31. Its previous forecast was for a $466 million net loss.

For the first time since going public in 1958, the Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate canceled half- and full-year dividend payments.

The company plans to cut staff in its mobile communications business by about 15 percent, or roughly 1,000 people, said Sony President Kazuo Hirai.

E-biz fuels FedEx profits, hiring

DALLAS – Growth in online shopping is boosting profit at FedEx, and the company plans to hire more than 50,000 extra workers to handle what is shaping up as another record year for holiday-season package deliveries.

That’s up from about 40,000 temporary holiday workers hired last year.

The hiring plan from FedEx Corp. came a day after rival UPS said it would hire up to 95,000 seasonal workers. FedEx Corp. announced Wednesday that it earned $606 million in the June-through-August quarter, up 24 percent from the same period in 2013. The results beat expectations.

Kohl’s unveils holiday hiring plan

NEW YORK – Kohl’s Corp. plans to hire more than 67,000 seasonal workers nationwide for the holiday shopping season, which the company said is a 15 percent increase over last year.

This year, it expects to hire an average of 50 associates per store, up 25 percent from a year ago.

Kohl’s, based in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, operates 1,163 stores in 49 states. It also expects to hire 9,300 people for jobs at its distribution centers and 670 people for seasonal positions in its credit operations.

Lincoln Logs to be cut in Maine

BURNHAM, Maine – Lincoln Logs, the popular toy created nearly a century ago by a son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is coming home to the USA.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage announced Wednesday the toy logs, created by John Lloyd Wright and used to create miniature toy buildings, will be made at Pride Manufacturing, a wood products company in Burnham.

The toy has been made in China, but when production of the wooden pieces ramps up – possibly in November – 80 percent of the toy will be made at the plant in Maine, said Randy Dicker, senior director of manufacturing for Pride. Some plastic pieces still will be made in China.