1
00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:08,720
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Fearing Greed Business News. The afternoon report

2
00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:11,119
Speaker 1: for Friday, the twenty first of March twenty twenty five.

3
00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:13,800
Speaker 1: I'm sure n alma every afternoon. I've got the five

4
00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:15,880
Speaker 1: stories that happened today that you need to know about.

5
00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:18,440
Speaker 1: Story number one. This and PASX two hundred closed up

6
00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:21,880
Speaker 1: zero point two percent today to seven nine hundred and

7
00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:24,239
Speaker 1: thirty two points. For the week, it rose two percent.

8
00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:27,200
Speaker 1: Nothing to write harm about, but the first time it's

9
00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:30,880
Speaker 1: had a positive week in a month. The supermarkets with

10
00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:34,000
Speaker 1: the our performers more on that, surely. Otherwise, industrials did

11
00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:36,800
Speaker 1: best and text talks were among the laggards. The banks

12
00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:38,879
Speaker 1: were mostly higher, so to the big miners. On the

13
00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,720
Speaker 1: other side of the coin Promticus lost five percent, while

14
00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:45,200
Speaker 1: Weisstech and Aria were also sold off. Story number two.

15
00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:49,040
Speaker 1: Woolworth's and Cohle's share prices surged today more than five

16
00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:52,800
Speaker 1: percent in both cases after Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

17
00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:56,160
Speaker 1: report found the two supermarkets giants are among the most

18
00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:59,360
Speaker 1: profitable in the world, but there is no clear evidence

19
00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:03,400
Speaker 1: that they price gouge and their dominance is unlikely to end.

20
00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:07,319
Speaker 1: The Competition watchdog report says that margins have risen since

21
00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:10,280
Speaker 1: the pandemic, and while the cost of groceries has increased

22
00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:13,880
Speaker 1: significantly relative to the increase in wages, it has been

23
00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:16,920
Speaker 1: lower than in many comparable countries. It follows a year

24
00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,720
Speaker 1: long investigation by the ah Triable C. The watchdog recommends

25
00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,679
Speaker 1: the government force the supermarket giants to publish their prices

26
00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,200
Speaker 1: online and provide supplies with detailed information about price and

27
00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:31,199
Speaker 1: sales forecasts, and modifies zoning and planning laws so similar

28
00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:35,240
Speaker 1: rivals can expand more quickly. The report is critical of

29
00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,920
Speaker 1: the promotional practices at Willis and Coals, which its investigation

30
00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:43,120
Speaker 1: found has made it more difficult for consumers to assess pricing,

31
00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:46,440
Speaker 1: discounts and value for money. In response, Coal said the

32
00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:49,240
Speaker 1: A triblec is overstating as profit margins and warns that

33
00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:53,560
Speaker 1: more regulation could result in higher prices. Storry number three

34
00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:57,720
Speaker 1: nine Entertainment confirmed it's in discussions with co Star, the

35
00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:00,440
Speaker 1: group that's made a bit for Domain about the sale

36
00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,280
Speaker 1: of the online property platform. Now nine is the major

37
00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,440
Speaker 1: shareholder in Domain, owning sixty percent. Its support is needed

38
00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:09,440
Speaker 1: for the co Star deal to go ahead. Costar has

39
00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:12,160
Speaker 1: now massed a seventeen percent share of domain. The fin

40
00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,000
Speaker 1: reviews reporting that nine wants a price of four dollars

41
00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,760
Speaker 1: sixty four a share. Coastar has offered four dollars twenty

42
00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:21,800
Speaker 1: four dollars sixty four or four dollars sixty five. Represents

43
00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:24,600
Speaker 1: a forty nine percent premium to what Domain was trading

44
00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:27,160
Speaker 1: at before the bid, and there's no indication that they'll

45
00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:31,720
Speaker 1: get that yet. However, talks are ongoing. Demain finished trading

46
00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:34,880
Speaker 1: today around four dollars forty a share. Story Number four

47
00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,760
Speaker 1: billionaire Solomon Lu's Premiere Investments has posted a one third

48
00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,400
Speaker 1: slide and half year net profit, flat sales and scrapped

49
00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,280
Speaker 1: It's Stupid End, but now free of its apparel brands,

50
00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:47,600
Speaker 1: which it's sold off to Mayer, it's aiming for an

51
00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:51,720
Speaker 1: international push for its remaining retail chains. Peter Alexander is

52
00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:54,280
Speaker 1: one of those. It posted record sales and nearly three

53
00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:56,959
Speaker 1: hundred million dollars for the half, up six point six percent,

54
00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:01,320
Speaker 1: while Smiggle sales were one hundred and fifty seven million dollars,

55
00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,880
Speaker 1: down about fourteen percent. The conglomerate's focus is now on

56
00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:09,360
Speaker 1: leveraging these two high margin iconic brands to ramp up

57
00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:11,920
Speaker 1: growth in existing markets and stretch out to new regions

58
00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:14,119
Speaker 1: from Britain to the Middle Eastern Asia. For the last

59
00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:18,080
Speaker 1: six months, cost of living pressures impacted Premiers brands. However,

60
00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:21,280
Speaker 1: the future is what investors were interested in. Premier share

61
00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,560
Speaker 1: price finished up four percent today and story number five.

62
00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:28,040
Speaker 1: President Donald Trump this morning signed an executive order to

63
00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:32,000
Speaker 1: dismantle the US Education Department while seated at a child's desk,

64
00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:35,080
Speaker 1: setting the stage for a huge political and legal battle

65
00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:38,520
Speaker 1: over the federal government's role in the nation's schools. Surrounded

66
00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,480
Speaker 1: by school children also seated at desks in the White House,

67
00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:44,880
Speaker 1: Trump said he would begin closing the department once and

68
00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,480
Speaker 1: for all after his administration cited poor test scores as

69
00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:52,080
Speaker 1: a key justification for the move. According to Rutter's shattering

70
00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:56,200
Speaker 1: the agency completely requires an Act of Congress, and Trump

71
00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:58,800
Speaker 1: actually lacks the votes for that. The executive order is

72
00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,320
Speaker 1: designed to leave school policy almost entirely in the hands

73
00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:05,840
Speaker 1: of states and local boards, a prospect that alarms liberal

74
00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,200
Speaker 1: education advocates. That's it for the Afternoon Report for Friday,

75
00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:11,320
Speaker 1: the twenty first of March twenty twenty five. Make sure

76
00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:13,600
Speaker 1: you follow on the podcast. We will be back tomorrow

77
00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,240
Speaker 1: morning with the weekend edition of Fear and Greed business News.

78
00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:18,320
Speaker 1: I'm sure I Alma enjoy reavening