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Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, the eighteenth of September twenty twenty four. Welcome

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Speaker 1: to the Fast five Business News by Fear and Greed,

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Speaker 1: where we give you the top five business stories you

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Speaker 1: need to know into five minutes. I'm Michael Thompson and

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Speaker 1: good morning Sean Aylmer.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Michael, Sean.

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Speaker 1: Five stories in five minutes. Let's get cracking. Story number one,

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Speaker 1: the Federal government has done a trade deal with the

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Speaker 1: United Arab Emirates or the UAE, which in the short

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Speaker 1: term will save local exports one hundred and sixty million

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Speaker 1: dollars in tariff, but in the longer term could help

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Speaker 1: access billions of dollars in investments.

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Speaker 2: Trade minutes to Don Farrell yesterday said trade between the

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Speaker 2: two countries, currently worth just under ten million dollars, will

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Speaker 2: increase significantly under the deal, with ninety nine percent of

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Speaker 2: Aussie products able to enter the UAE without paying tariffs.

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Speaker 2: Australia's main exports to the UAE include alumina. That's one

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Speaker 2: of the big ones, meat, dairy, oil, seeds, higher education.

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Speaker 2: It's our biggest trading partner in the Middle East. Mister

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Speaker 2: farrells had imported goods from the UAE included furniture, copper, wire,

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Speaker 2: as containers and plastics. These goods should become cheaper at

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Speaker 2: checkout or tradees or for whoever's buying them. The deal

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Speaker 2: would make it easier for skilled Australians to temporarily work

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Speaker 2: in the UAE. The prize and all of this so

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Speaker 2: might be a thirty billion USLL A climate focused investment

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Speaker 2: vehicle unveiled by the UAE last year Trade Minutes of

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Speaker 2: Don Farrell is hopeful of marrying that investment with preferential

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Speaker 2: treatment for Australian suppliers of critical minerals and rare earths.

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Speaker 1: Sure does it just me or have we signed a

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Speaker 1: whole bunch of free trade deals in recent years? It

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Speaker 1: feels like a trend.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're right. Yesterday makes it nineteen free

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Speaker 2: trade or cooperation agreements in place, though sometimes free might

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Speaker 2: be a little optimistic. The FDAs include deals with Chile, India,

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Speaker 2: New Zealand, uk US, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singaportailand,

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Speaker 2: end Peru. There's also deals with countries in the region

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Speaker 2: that come under a larger umbrella agreement. The years governments

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Speaker 2: around the world tried massive multilateral agreements. Now it's all

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Speaker 2: about two way trade deals.

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Speaker 1: Michael, I love that we have on with Peru. Just

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Speaker 1: it feels like the most obscure country in the world

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Speaker 1: to have a free trade agreement with. But hey, why not?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I'm with you. I think it's a great idea.

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Speaker 1: Onto story number two. Fund manager Regal Partners has made

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Speaker 1: a bid for global equities group Platinum Asset Management, sending

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Speaker 1: the latter's share price up nearly fifteen percent.

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Speaker 2: It's a merge of royalty in funds management. Platinum was

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Speaker 2: founded by one of Australia's best owned investors, Coloneilson, while

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Speaker 2: Regal is run by one of the country's most successful

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Speaker 2: recent investors, Phil King. If successful, Regal will control a

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Speaker 2: twenty nine billion dollar funds management empire, which puts it

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Speaker 2: in the big league. Regal's bid is a script based

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Speaker 2: off a meaning Platinum shareholders will get shares in Regal

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Speaker 2: if the deal goes ahead. The in third bid price

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Speaker 2: is a dollar forteen a share, compared to Platinum's closing

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Speaker 2: price on Monday of ninety nine cents to share. It's

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Speaker 2: a premium, not a huge one. The two companies are

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Speaker 2: in the same industry, but on very different trajectories. Regal

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Speaker 2: is growing, buying businesses. It's share prices up forty five

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Speaker 2: percent this year. Platinum is king. Its share price is

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Speaker 2: down eighty five percent from its peak of nine years ago.

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Speaker 1: Paddington Bear comes from Peru.

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Speaker 2: Sean, thanks very much for that. Let's move on to

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Speaker 2: the story number three.

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Speaker 1: Just a little tidbit of information there. I thought you

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Speaker 1: might find it handy and useful. Story number three are

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Speaker 1: serious one. The rate of business failures is at its

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Speaker 1: highest level in three and a half years, when Australia

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Speaker 1: was in the midst of the COVID pandemic.

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Speaker 2: The failure rate for Australian businesses is sitting at an

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Speaker 2: average of four point ninety five percent, and credit reporting

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Speaker 2: bureau creditor Watch expects it to go beyond five percent

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Speaker 2: over the next twelve months. Low levels of consumer spending,

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Speaker 2: high inflation and interest rate increases are driving the failures,

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Speaker 2: with food and beverage industry hardest hit, followed by administrative

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Speaker 2: and support services. At the other end of the scarlet's agricultural,

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Speaker 2: forestry and fishing not helping. It's the fact that the

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Speaker 2: Tax Office is actively chasing debts so to the bank's

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Speaker 2: court actions and our well above pre COVID levels. Not

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Speaker 2: ordering well for the future is to jump in business

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Speaker 2: payment to faults, which according to Credit to Watch, have

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Speaker 2: reached than sixty eight percent in the past year to

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Speaker 2: record levels.

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Speaker 1: Story Number four seawn labor, government and business haven't always

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Speaker 1: had the friendliest of relations. While there's plenty of noise

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Speaker 1: around business being upset with the Alberneze government, at the moment,

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Speaker 1: the Prime Minister himself says, everyone's on the same page.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So.

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Speaker 2: Speaking ahead of last night's annual Business Council of Australia dinner,

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Speaker 2: mister Alberanezi said the government isn't going to revisit industrial

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Speaker 2: relations reforms, reforms that have irritated the business community. He

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Speaker 2: said the government had created one million jobs since coming

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Speaker 2: to power, with higher wages included in that. Knowing his

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Speaker 2: speech last night, mister Alberanze said the five areas which

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Speaker 2: the Business Councils cite as needing attention, housing, cost of living,

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Speaker 2: the care economy, net zero and skills are all being

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Speaker 2: addressed by the government, so that means business community is interested,

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Speaker 2: the government's interested. Therefore both are in sync. I'm not

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Speaker 2: sure about that logic, Michael.

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Speaker 1: Perhaps not last one story, number five, big story this one, Sean.

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Speaker 1: The work from home revolution is waning, with Amazon the

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Speaker 1: latest big tech company to order people back into the

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Speaker 1: office five days a week.

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Speaker 2: From next year, things are going back to pre COVID

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Speaker 2: ways of working. CEO Andy Jesse said. He said it

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Speaker 2: is easier for teammates to learn model practice and strength

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Speaker 2: and culture and collaborating. Brainstorming and inventing are simpler and

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Speaker 2: more effective when everyone's in the office. Amazon will also

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Speaker 2: end hot desking and bring back a sign to floor

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Speaker 2: plans in its US buildings. Amazon has been in the

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Speaker 2: vanguard of the return to office drive, making it an

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Speaker 2: outliwer among many tech companies. Google, for example, require staff

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Speaker 2: regularly to attend one of its buildings just three times

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Speaker 2: a week. Many startups remain completely remade. Other industries like

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Speaker 2: financial services, there is definitely more of a push to

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Speaker 2: get people back into the office.

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Speaker 1: All right, there we go the top five business stories

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Speaker 1: in five minutes. Thank you, Sean, Thank you Michael. It

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Speaker 1: is Wednesday, the eighteenth of September twenty twenty four. Remember

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Speaker 1: to hit follow on the podcast and if five minutes

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Speaker 1: isn't enough. You can find our longer daily show called

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Speaker 1: Fear and Greed wherever you listen to podcasts, or Fearangreed

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Speaker 1: dot com dot au, which is also where you can

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Speaker 1: sign up for our free weekly newsletter, which actually comes

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Speaker 1: out today, so it is a great time to head

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Speaker 1: to the website and pop your email addressing so that

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Speaker 1: you get that when it lands mid morning. Oh, Michael Thompson,

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Speaker 1: And that was the fast five business news by Fear

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Speaker 1: and Greed.

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Speaker 2: Have a great day.