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Speaker 1: This is what of Flux. I'm Brett and I'm justin

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Speaker 1: and it's Wednesday, the fourth of September.

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Speaker 2: Does it wait? It's believed that Katar Airways is just

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Speaker 2: days away from finalizing a deal to acquire a minority

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Speaker 2: stake in Virgin Australia and given bondser and directs have

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Speaker 2: collapsed recently, it could give Virgin Australia the firepower to

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Speaker 2: bring it to Quantus and Jetstar.

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Speaker 1: Here in Australia, we desperately need someone to fire up

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Speaker 1: this domestic battle. Uh huh, buck Sam. We are now

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Speaker 1: just seven weeks away from the cutoff to submit your

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Speaker 1: tax return for last financial year. If you don't submit

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Speaker 1: by October thirty first this year, you could face a

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Speaker 1: large fine. And that's why we've released a new article

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Speaker 1: in the Flux out taking you step by step through

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Speaker 1: what you need to do to semit your tax return

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Speaker 1: on the magap websites. Make sure to check it out

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Speaker 1: on the Flux app for more info.

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Speaker 2: Three informative stories Today Jessy Boy Let's do it for

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Speaker 2: our first. Aria Group has announced that it's considering acquiring

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Speaker 2: right Move for nine billion dollars, the UK's largest digital

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Speaker 2: property platform Aria.

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Speaker 1: The new mister Worldwide b Man, So tell me more.

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Speaker 2: Well, Jazyboy. Aria Group is the listed real estate ad

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Speaker 2: company that's behind real estate dot com dot Au, which

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Speaker 2: is Australia's largest property website.

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Speaker 1: The place where you can look for joint properties well

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Speaker 1: outside your price range.

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Speaker 2: Now Aria also owns other companies in that space. I'd

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Speaker 2: be thinking Realcommercial dot com dot Au, Flatmates, Mortgage Choice and.

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Speaker 1: Its majority owned by News Corp Australia.

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Speaker 2: Now. Aria Group has just announced that it's considering putting

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Speaker 2: forward an offer to acquire the UK's largest digital property platform,

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Speaker 2: which goes by the name of right Move.

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Speaker 1: The offer would be in cash and shares, but by

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Speaker 1: Babe Man, it's yet to actually approach right Move with

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Speaker 1: an offer.

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Speaker 2: And Josie Boy. This deal is likely to cost over

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Speaker 2: nine billion bucks and would turn Aria Group into a

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Speaker 2: global powerhouse in the real estate market.

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Speaker 1: But interestingly, after the announcement, Right Move share price shut

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Speaker 1: up twenty seven percent, but Aria share price dropped over

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Speaker 1: five percent. So what is the key learning here?

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Speaker 2: Acquisitions can often shake investor confidence before they build up

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Speaker 2: investor confidence.

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Speaker 1: Well. Right Move share price jumped at the acquisition announcement.

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Speaker 1: Clearly Aria's investors were less keen interesting called juzzy voice,

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Speaker 1: So why is that? Well for starters, the two companies

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Speaker 1: have grown at very different rates Recently.

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Speaker 2: Aria has grown over twenty five percent in the past

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Speaker 2: year and Right Move has actually dropped by one percent.

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Speaker 1: Not to mention that Australian companies haven't quite had the

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Speaker 1: best track record with expanding into the UK recently.

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Speaker 2: A few that come to mind West Farmers, Lend Lease Amp.

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Speaker 2: They all tried and more or less failed to expand

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Speaker 2: into the UK and be Man.

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Speaker 1: This isn't the first time we've seen a split reaction

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Speaker 1: to an acquisition announcement.

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Speaker 2: Remember when West Farmers announced it was looking to acquire API,

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Speaker 2: which is the owner of Price Line, back in twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty one, I do West.

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Speaker 1: Farmer's share price remained largely flat, but API's share price

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Speaker 1: jumped seventeen percent after the announcement.

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Speaker 2: So Jazi boy. Clearly Aria is testing the market here

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Speaker 2: just to see whether investors are supportive before making their

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Speaker 2: big move.

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Speaker 1: For our second story, Abercrombie and Fitch, the ninety teen retailer,

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Speaker 1: has seen its quarterly sales jumped over one billion US

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Speaker 1: dollars after doing a major repamp to its brand.

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Speaker 2: That is a serious blasts from the past, does it, boy?

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Speaker 2: Reminds me of the good time? So tell me more.

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Speaker 1: Okay. So Abercumbri and Fitch actually started back in eighteen

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Speaker 1: ninety two when they focus on outdoor and sporting goods.

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Speaker 1: We were talking fishing rods, fishing boats, tents.

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Speaker 2: But in nineteen eighty eight, Abercrombie and Fitch was acquired

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Speaker 2: by L Brands, which also owned Victoria's Secret.

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Speaker 1: And Abercrombie really leaned into the teen boppy culture of

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Speaker 1: the nineties.

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Speaker 2: They literally had topless male models at the entrance of

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Speaker 2: their stores dripping in Abercrombie after shade.

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Speaker 1: And the big Abercrombie logo on each of their T

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Speaker 1: shirts and jumpers was actually the size of my head.

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Speaker 2: In the early two thousands, Abercrombie faced a heap of controversy.

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Speaker 1: We're talking staff discrimination claims.

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Speaker 2: It was titled America's most hated brand.

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Speaker 1: But b man. In twenty nineteen, Abercrombie overhauled its product

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Speaker 1: and its marketing to distance itself from itself.

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Speaker 2: AH and more recently, just over the past two years,

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Speaker 2: Abercrombius made a major comeback.

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Speaker 1: In fact, it's now seen its net sales jumped to

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Speaker 1: over one point one billion US dollars for the quarter,

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Speaker 1: and it expects to continue growing in the coming quarters.

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Speaker 1: But despite this, its share pros actually dropped seven teen

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Speaker 1: percent because it warned of a potentially uncertain environment.

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Speaker 2: Fascinating. Fascinating, So what's the key learning here?

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Speaker 1: For some retailers, the best way to maintain relevance is

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Speaker 1: to evolve with your customers. Now.

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Speaker 2: In the past ten brands like Abercrombie, they focused on

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Speaker 2: things like type jeans or oversized hoodies or graphic teas.

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Speaker 1: But when fashion trends changed as well as societal expectations,

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Speaker 1: Abercrombie failed to keep up with the youth market.

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Speaker 2: And they not only lost their existing customers, but the

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Speaker 2: next generation as well.

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Speaker 1: So now brands like Abercrombie are redamping their clothes to

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Speaker 1: cater to more style needs.

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Speaker 2: For example, it ain't low cut jeans anymore, but officewar

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Speaker 2: and wedding clothes.

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Speaker 1: And be man. It's clearly working because Abercrombie share prices

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Speaker 1: jump more than five hundred and twenty percent since the

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Speaker 1: start of twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 2: Yep, But They're not the only ones. Their rival American

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Speaker 2: Eagle also reported record revenue of one point twenty nine

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Speaker 2: billion US dollars for the quarter, and GAP also beat

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Speaker 2: its estimates as well.

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Speaker 1: So it's back to the future.

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Speaker 2: For our third and final story. Air Trunk, the Australian

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Speaker 2: data center group, has been sold for over twenty three

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Speaker 2: billion dollars after twelve month auction that actually got quite heated.

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Speaker 1: I'd keep telling you, b man, data centers are the

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Speaker 1: new oil. Keep telling you that, so tell me more.

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Speaker 2: Now. You may have heard of air Trunk, only nine

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Speaker 2: years old.

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Speaker 1: YEP. Found it in twenty fifteen. It had the goal

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Speaker 1: of developing and operating hyperscale data centers.

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Speaker 2: Now these hyperscale data centers are larger than your typical

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Speaker 2: enterprise data center.

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Speaker 1: YEP, more than five thousand servers in the one large place.

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Speaker 2: And Jasi boy. Since twenty fifteen, air Trunk has built

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Speaker 2: eleven hyperscale data centers and that's across Australia, Singapore, Japan,

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Speaker 2: Hong Kong.

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Speaker 1: Now be back. In twenty twenty, a group led by

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Speaker 1: mcquarie's Infrastructure Fund acquired an eighty eight percent share in

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Speaker 1: air Trunk.

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Speaker 2: Had a valuation of about three billion bucks.

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Speaker 1: But over the past few years, data centers have blown up.

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Speaker 2: Yep, every man, every woman, and every dog is looking

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Speaker 2: for data centers to manage cloud computing and AI applications.

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Speaker 2: And now, after a twelve month auction, air Trunk has

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Speaker 2: been sold to private equity firm Blackstone for a waften

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Speaker 2: twenty three and a half billion.

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Speaker 1: Bucks and b man this sale will set a new

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Speaker 1: valuation benchmark for other data center.

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Speaker 2: Businesses to interesting. So what is the key learning here?

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Speaker 1: When a high profile acquisition takes place, it can establish

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Speaker 1: a new benchmark for all companies in the sector.

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Speaker 2: Just like property auctions, buyers and sellers use the most

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Speaker 2: recent results as a reference point for negotiations.

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Speaker 1: And given the enormous price tag on air Truck, they

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Speaker 1: may also see their valuation reassessed by investors.

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Speaker 2: Does it boy? Air Trunk reportedly generated one billion dollars

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Speaker 2: in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.

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Speaker 1: This acquisition is at twenty three and a half times

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Speaker 1: it's EBITDAT So deal like this can have a huge

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Speaker 1: impact on the broader data center market. Absolutely, FLEXPAM there

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Speaker 1: is no worse feeling than getting to the end of

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Speaker 1: October and realizing you still haven't done your tax return,

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Speaker 1: so make sure you get on top of it. With

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Speaker 1: a step by step guide in the Flux app on

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Speaker 1: how to submit your tax return on the mag Up website.

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Speaker 1: You will not regret it.

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