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Speaker 1: This is what the Flux I'm Brattman Justin and Monday

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Speaker 1: the sixth of October.

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Speaker 2: Does a point. The battle between AGL and its the

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Speaker 2: larger shareholder continues. We've been talking about at Lassian co

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Speaker 2: founder Mike cannon Brooks, who owns an eleven percent stake

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Speaker 2: in AGL. He refused to endorse agl's climate change strategy,

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Speaker 2: and now it looks like it's back to the drawing

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Speaker 2: board for old Aglox.

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Speaker 1: As we kick off the month of October, we have

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Speaker 1: a brand spanking new academy for you to complay. It's

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Speaker 1: called Good Debt vers Bad Debt and it breaks down

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Speaker 1: all the different types of debt that you can take on,

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Speaker 1: including what's good and of course what's bad as well.

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Speaker 1: So if you want to learn about debt, how to

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Speaker 1: manage it and also what the opportunity cost of that

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Speaker 1: debt is, make sure you download the Flux app and

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Speaker 1: check out Good Debt vers Bad Debt Academy.

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Speaker 2: Three ripping stories Today, Jossy Boy, let's do it for

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Speaker 2: our first cash will remain alive in Australia after the

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Speaker 2: big banks and retailers struck a deal to keep Armor

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Speaker 2: Guard delivering the goods.

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Speaker 1: No more hoarding for you, b Now we wore.

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Speaker 2: All right, Josie boy Armaguard was founded back in nineteen

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Speaker 2: thirty eight when cash was King Quinn and it was jack.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Armagard specialized in transferring cash and coins all around Australia.

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Speaker 2: From retailers to ATMs, to banks and tab betting shops.

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Speaker 2: And you don't want to mess with those cash handlers either,

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Speaker 2: now and Josie Boyd. The only other player in the

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Speaker 2: cash handling game was Spanish giant Prosigle.

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Speaker 1: Until it was acquired by Armaguard in twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 2: Now, last year you may remember that a group of

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Speaker 2: banks had to throw Armaguard a fifty million dollar lifeline

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Speaker 2: to keep it afloat.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Armaguard was essential to the banks and supermarkets, but

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Speaker 1: it was losing a million bucks a week.

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Speaker 2: But now, after two years of negotiations with the banks

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Speaker 2: and supermarkets, they've landed on a deal.

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Speaker 1: And this will ensure Armaguard remains a live and kicking yep.

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Speaker 1: It's based on a utility style pricing model and that

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Speaker 1: means it will treat cash transport like an essential service

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Speaker 1: similar to gas and electricity around Australia really interesting.

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Speaker 2: So what is the key learning here?

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Speaker 1: Well, cash transport might not seem like an essential service,

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Speaker 1: it still plays a critical role in keeping the economy functioning.

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Speaker 1: Get this one, Juzzy boy.

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Speaker 2: Despite the decline in cash usage, armor Guard still moves

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Speaker 2: around six billion dollars worth of cash every single week, or.

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Speaker 1: About ninety percent of all cash movements around Australia.

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Speaker 2: In fact, last Easter Coal started hoarding cash in store

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Speaker 2: because they thought Armaguard might collapse.

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Speaker 1: And it meant they had to limit the amount that

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Speaker 1: customers could withdraw from its stores.

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Speaker 2: But now with Armorguard and the banks and supermarkets coming

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Speaker 2: to an agreement, it means cash will stick around for longer.

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Speaker 1: And you can stop holding awards under your pillow.

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Speaker 2: For our second story, General Pants has shut more than

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Speaker 2: a dozen stores in the past year as it struggles

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Speaker 2: to compete in the youth fashion market.

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Speaker 1: General pants ain't what she used to be? Where she be? Man?

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Speaker 1: Or what is going on here? Well?

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Speaker 2: General Pants was founded in Sydney in the nineteen seventies

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Speaker 2: and grew into a bit of a go to youth

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Speaker 2: fashion chain across Australia and New Zealand.

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Speaker 1: At its peak, it was kind of seen as the

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Speaker 1: cool kid.

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Speaker 2: Retailer, you know, where teens and young adults would go

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Speaker 2: for denim and street wear in bit of youth culture.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Over the past thirteen months, General Pants's parent company,

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Speaker 1: Alchemy Group, close sixteen General Pan stores.

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Speaker 2: That's about twenty five percent of all of their stores.

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Speaker 1: And why the big closure has been there?

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Speaker 2: Well, General Pants's owner, private equity firm Alchemy, claims that

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Speaker 2: they've shut down all of their unprofitable stores.

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Speaker 1: But b man, with cheap online players like Sheer and

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Speaker 1: Timu entering the youth fashion space, it's becoming harder and

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Speaker 1: harder for them to compete.

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Speaker 2: Especially when a brand's lifespan is becoming shorter and shorter

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Speaker 2: as trends move faster, unless.

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Speaker 1: The brand continues to reinvent itself.

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Speaker 2: Ooh, so what is the key learning here?

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Speaker 1: Retail brands often follow a life cycle similar to products.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, there's the launch phase.

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Speaker 1: That's when the brand becomes the new kid on the block.

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Speaker 1: They come out with fresh looks and a strong identity.

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Speaker 2: Then hopefully there's the growth phase.

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Speaker 1: New stores open, revenue climbs and it becomes a culturally cool.

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Speaker 2: Brand and eventually we get to the maturity phase yep.

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Speaker 1: That's when the growth slows down a little. The brand

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Speaker 1: is more familiar, more steady, but the danger is becoming

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Speaker 1: too predictable.

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Speaker 2: And of course there is the eventual decline yep.

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Speaker 1: Unless the brand reinvents itself, this is where the slide begins.

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Speaker 1: But b Man, clearly General Pans hasn't been able to

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Speaker 1: keep pace with new players like Universal Stores.

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Speaker 2: Whose sales jumped to more than fifteen percent in the

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Speaker 2: last financial year, as well as she and and Tiamu,

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Speaker 2: who pump out up to ten thousand new items on

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Speaker 2: its site every day.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, trends are now moving faster than you can say.

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Speaker 1: Cargo pants are back, which apparently they are.

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Speaker 2: So Juzzy boy, General Pants isn't shrinking to greatness, It's

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Speaker 2: shrinking just to survive.

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Speaker 1: For our third and final story, Peloton is pedaling hard

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Speaker 1: into AI with a major product rebare because it hopes

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Speaker 1: to win back customers and lose It's just a bike label.

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Speaker 2: Dust off your licro, juzzy boy, So what is going

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Speaker 2: on here?

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Speaker 1: So Peloton is the fitness company known for its super

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Speaker 1: fancy exercise.

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Speaker 2: Bike, and then it's super fancy treadmill.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it actually started back in twenty twelve with a

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Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty thousand dollars Kickstarter campaign.

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Speaker 2: But it was during COVID when it really made a

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Speaker 2: name for itself.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Peloton was booming. It's market valuation jumped just under

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Speaker 1: fifty billion US dollars. But since then, Peloton's lost nearly

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Speaker 1: ninety percent of its peak value and laid off six

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Speaker 1: percent of its workforce just last month.

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Speaker 2: But now Peloton has unveiled five new products. We're talking

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Speaker 2: new bikes, rereadmills, and even a rowing machine.

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Speaker 1: But be man. With these products, they also launched peloton IQ.

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Speaker 1: Any idea what that is?

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Speaker 2: Don't say AI, don't say AI, don't say AI.

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Speaker 1: Yep. It's an AI assisted trading tool, tracks your form

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Speaker 1: your reps, and suggests workout tweaks as well.

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Speaker 2: Even got a thumbs up from Peloton's investors because the

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Speaker 2: share price went up five percent after this news.

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Speaker 1: And be man, it's hard to know if this AI

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Speaker 1: is actually legit or just a case of a little

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Speaker 1: bit of AI washing.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, so what is the key learning here?

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Speaker 1: You're not talking about AI in twenty twenty five? Are

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Speaker 1: you even a company?

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Speaker 2: We've seen many types of washing before, for example, green washing,

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Speaker 2: that's when.

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Speaker 1: Companies exaggerate their environmental credentials. And don't forget sports washing

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Speaker 1: as well, juzzy Boy, where countries have use sports to

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Speaker 1: improve their public image on a global stage.

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Speaker 2: This time we're talking AI washing, companies sprinkling the letters

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Speaker 2: AI into investor reports just to attract good attention.

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Speaker 1: And the man investors are actually rewarding companies for just

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Speaker 1: talking about AI, even if the actual integration is pretty

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Speaker 1: pretty thin yep.

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Speaker 2: In fact, Jazzy Boy, nearly sixty five percent of Fortune

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Speaker 2: five hundred companies in the US mentioned AI in their

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Speaker 2: most recent and your report.

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Speaker 1: And get this, companies that mentioned AI during their earnings

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Speaker 1: call saw an average stock price rise of four point

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Speaker 1: six percent in the three days after the call.

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Speaker 2: Compared to two point four percent for the companies that

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Speaker 2: did not mention AI. According to Wall Street zen.

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Speaker 1: So b Man, Peloton is clearly playing the game and

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Speaker 1: hoping that its AI execution can actually match the investor hype.

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Speaker 1: Fox Am, did you know that managing your debt effectively

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Speaker 1: is one of the keys to unlocking your financial future?

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Speaker 1: And that's why we've got this month's Academy Good Debt,

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Speaker 1: verst down debt to understand the difference between the types

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Speaker 1: of debt that help you grow and the types of

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Speaker 1: debt that drag you down. Make sure it download the

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Speaker 1: Flux app and check out the academy this month.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Wednesday.