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Speaker 1: Welcome to Fear and Greed business news you can use Today,

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Speaker 1: The boss of Plumbing Supplies Group, Reese, gives investors a

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Speaker 1: brutal assessment of the former share market Darling's position, the

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Speaker 1: federal government fast tracks it's big promise to help first

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Speaker 1: home buyers, and sales of plug in hybrid vehicle surge,

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Speaker 1: Plus why optimism may be the key to career success,

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Speaker 1: And a compliance training company under police investigation for allegedly

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Speaker 1: spying on workers. It is Tuesday, the twenty sixth of

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Speaker 1: August twenty twenty five. IM Michael Thompson and Good morning,

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Speaker 1: Natalie McDonald.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Michael, Natalie.

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Speaker 1: The main story this morning, The boss of Plumbing Supplies Giant,

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Speaker 1: Reese has offered really a masterclass in transparent leadership in

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Speaker 1: a very wide ranging investor call after profits tanked twenty

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Speaker 1: four percent. So it was never going to be an

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Speaker 1: easy call to begin with.

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Speaker 2: No, but the AFI has offered an in depth take

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Speaker 2: on Reese boss Peter Wilson's forty minute call, with investors

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Speaker 2: describing the CEO as swinging from emotional to frustrated, to

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Speaker 2: helpless and even paranoid as he laid bare what the

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Speaker 2: future looks like for the troubled company once revered amongst

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Speaker 2: fund managers. Reese's domestic outlook is being impacted by structural

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Speaker 2: cost pressures and productivity challenges worsened by ongoing remote work.

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Speaker 2: The bottom line, according to Wilson, they're struggling to get

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Speaker 2: workers into the office and if productivity doesn't change soon,

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Speaker 2: all options are on the table.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it was interesting this question of why can't they

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Speaker 1: get people back into the office, and he was quite

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Speaker 1: clear in this call that one of their biggest challenges

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Speaker 1: is actually convincing people to come back post COVID, and

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Speaker 1: they just can't do it, and that is affecting productivity.

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Speaker 2: And that idea around innovation as well. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, the thing about Race as well is that it's

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Speaker 1: traditionally been a very very private public company. All Right,

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Speaker 1: you never used to hear much from the founders and

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Speaker 1: is you said it, It was really revered by investors

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Speaker 1: a share market Darling. It had a sixty two fold

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Speaker 1: increase in a share price across twenty five years that

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Speaker 1: finished up last year. Now, the CEO has obviously been

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Speaker 1: very frank with investors, which is great, but it does

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Speaker 1: go beyond issues with the market here to a problem

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Speaker 1: with the US market, where it's been trying to expand

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Speaker 1: since acquiring a company there back in twenty eighteen.

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Speaker 2: Reese's one point nine billion US acquisition Morscow was meant

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Speaker 2: to be a growth driver, but high mortgage rates and

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Speaker 2: aggressive competition, including a new venture by a former Moscow

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Speaker 2: executive of Steinmyed Profits, Wilson described the US unit as

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Speaker 2: a price taker, battling cheap arrivals, leaving him frustrated and uncertain,

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Speaker 2: And that really came across on that call. Does this

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Speaker 2: sound familiar? Though, It's impossible not to draw comparisons with

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Speaker 2: James Hardy, who we've been talking about a lot of late.

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Speaker 2: It had a massive share price dropped last week after

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Speaker 2: a poor result linked in part to a weaker US

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Speaker 2: market and it's fourteen billion dollar purchase of US decking

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Speaker 2: company Asex. But unlike James Hardy, chief executive Aaron ata Recio,

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Speaker 2: Wilson is making no effort to dress up an ugly result.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and it was a pretty ugly result in the end,

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Speaker 1: And I think the share price closed down just over

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Speaker 1: sixteen percent yesterday. Taking a broader look at the SMPA

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Speaker 1: sex two hundred. How did the market finish the day?

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Speaker 2: Ah, it wasn't who exciting, to be honest. After US

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Speaker 2: FED ched JO and Power hinted at possible rate cuts

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Speaker 2: as soon as next month, we were expecting the market

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Speaker 2: to open to act as a bit of a starting

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Speaker 2: gun for potentially another rally. Not so. The smpair Sex

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Speaker 2: two hundred ended little changed at eighty nine hundred and

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Speaker 2: seventy two, after admittedly touching a briefly touching an intry

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Speaker 2: day record. While materials and energy rose on higher commodity

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Speaker 2: prices and a weaker US dollar, Six of eleven sectors

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Speaker 2: fell as banks and disappointing corporate earnings weighed on the market.

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Speaker 2: Not disappointing, though, was Ozzie Broadband shares surging off the

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Speaker 2: back of a deal to offload its digital only brand

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Speaker 2: Buddy Telco to CBA backed Tangerine Telecom for eight million dollars.

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Speaker 2: Launched a year ago with cheaper plans, Budd, he had

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Speaker 2: around fourteen thousand customers and struggled to reach its goal

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Speaker 2: of one hundred thousand by twenty twenty eight, losing ten

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Speaker 2: million dollars in the past year. Ozzie Broadband also delivering

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Speaker 2: a twenty four percent rise in net profit, which investors liked.

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Speaker 1: This is the thing about earning season. There are so

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Speaker 1: many stories around, really interesting stories about companies, and you

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Speaker 1: get brands like Buddy Telco and Tangerine Telecom, which are

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Speaker 1: just fascinating, aren't they? One that everyone is familiar with.

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Speaker 1: Dan Murphy's BWS, the owner of those brands, Endeavor, still

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Speaker 1: having a bit of a tough time.

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Speaker 2: Endeavor shares fell following what's really a divergence in full

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Speaker 2: year performance between its hotels and retail. Interim boss Kate

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Speaker 2: bt pointing to a pub's renaissance drawing patrons out to

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Speaker 2: hotels for a drink and trivia, but it's not enough

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Speaker 2: to counterbalance a fall in sales for Dan Murphy's In BWS,

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Speaker 2: we saw shares finishing the day almost one and a

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Speaker 2: half percent lower at four dollars fourteen.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems like Jane Herdliker the incoming boss at Endeavor.

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Speaker 1: I just can't wait for her to get there and

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Speaker 1: get stuck in and try and turn it all around.

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Speaker 1: Santos as well. Oil and Gas Giant reported its results yesterday,

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Speaker 1: but they were a little overshadowed by the monster takeover

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Speaker 1: bid that is still on its way in theory.

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Speaker 2: It's all anyone had to ask about on the analyst call.

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Speaker 2: Santos has granted the XLG consortium backed by ad Knocking Carlisle,

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Speaker 2: an extension to September nineteen to complete due diligence and

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Speaker 2: approvals for its thirty six billion dollar takeover bid. Sandos

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Speaker 2: is halfier. Net profit dropped twenty two percent, weight down

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Speaker 2: by weak gas prices, but we did see shares finishing

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Speaker 2: the day zero points six percent higher at seven dollars

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Speaker 2: and eighty one.

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Speaker 1: And one more before we take a quick break. Bendygo Bank.

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Speaker 1: It seems to be winning over younger Australians. It's got

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Speaker 1: a digital platform called up and it now has one

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Speaker 1: point two million users that is forty percent of the

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Speaker 1: bank's customer base. Mortgages are up, deposits are soaring. It

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Speaker 1: feels like reading the results yesterday that the bank is

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Speaker 1: tapping into this next generation of borrowers.

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Speaker 2: I really like this as a story as Spiers, I guess,

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Speaker 2: as you say, the next generation of borrowers future financial literacy.

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Speaker 2: But it hasn't been all smooth saving. I feel that

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Speaker 2: it's important to point out, and your cash profit fell

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Speaker 2: eight point four percent to five hundred and fourteen million dollars,

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Speaker 2: and the bank in fact posted a ninety seven million

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Speaker 2: dollars statutory loss. But Up's growth is helping offset the downturn,

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Speaker 2: with its mortgage book tripling to one point seven billion

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Speaker 2: dollars and deposits up thirty four percent. CEO Richard Fennell

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Speaker 2: says second half growth was steady and margins stable, with

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Speaker 2: a long term goal of ten percent return on equity

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Speaker 2: shares ending the day up just over one percent.

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Speaker 1: All right, we're going to take a quick break. While

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Speaker 1: we do that, one o'd head along to Fear and

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Speaker 1: Greed dot com. Totay you sign up for our free

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Speaker 1: daily newsletter. You get all the headlines, all the news

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Speaker 1: you need to know in your inbox by six am.

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Speaker 1: It's entirely free. I'll put a link in today's show

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Speaker 1: notes as well. Back in a moment with the rest

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Speaker 1: of the day's business news. Natalie Labor is fast tracking

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Speaker 1: its big promise to help first home buyers, but economists

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Speaker 1: are warning that the early advantage could quickly be swallowed

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Speaker 1: up by higher property prices. The government's five percent deposit scheme,

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Speaker 1: which lets buyers purchase a home without paying lenders mortgage insurance,

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Speaker 1: will now start in October, which is three months earlier

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Speaker 1: than planned.

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Speaker 2: Unlike earlier versions, there are no caps on places or

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Speaker 2: income limits, and the price thresholds are being lifted sharply.

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Speaker 2: In Sydney the maximum jumps from nine hundred thousand dollars

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Speaker 2: to one point five million, in Melbourne from eight hundred

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Speaker 2: thousand to nine hundred and fifty thousand, and in Brisbane

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Speaker 2: from seven hundred thousand dollars to one million. Prime Minister

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Speaker 2: Anthony Albanezi says the scheme will make a significant difference

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Speaker 2: to affordability, helping people move from paying someone else's mortgage

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Speaker 2: into their own home. But AMP Deputy Chief Economist and

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Speaker 2: friend of Fear and Greed the Anemy Seat says the

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Speaker 2: scheme is likely to inflate prices.

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Speaker 1: Now this next one, it's something that we've talked about

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Speaker 1: on this podcast in the past. It is the great

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Speaker 1: mystery of Australian aviation. It might be overstating it a

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Speaker 1: little bit, but it is something that I think we're

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Speaker 1: all curious about. Why do politicians and public servants overwhelmingly

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Speaker 1: fly quantus when the government rules are very very clear

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Speaker 1: they require the cheapest seat.

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Speaker 2: All right, let's get into it. Let's get this answered.

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Speaker 2: A Finance Department review found Quantus gets eighty percent of

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Speaker 2: taxpayer funded travel, adding an extra thirty nine million dollars

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Speaker 2: to the bill last year. Virgin says its fairs are

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Speaker 2: on average eighty dollars cheaper, but status credits, lounge perks,

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Speaker 2: and quote practical needs means that Quantus wins out because

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Speaker 2: and here's the reason. Government rules say that public servants

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Speaker 2: must book the lowest cost practical fair, not always the

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Speaker 2: absolute cheapest, but the cheapest that still suits their work needs.

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Speaker 2: And that, Michael is a bit that is open to interpretation.

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Speaker 2: The review, perhaps unsurprisingly, recommends tighter rules, including banning upgrades,

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Speaker 2: limiting business class, and forcing officials to justify those pricey affairs,

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Speaker 2: but questions remain about elite perks like the secretive Quantus

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Speaker 2: chairman's lounge.

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Speaker 1: We haven't heard a lot about the chairman's that it

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Speaker 1: was a big, big, big stir what six months ago

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Speaker 1: or twelve months ago. It's really kind of been flying

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Speaker 1: under the radar.

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Speaker 2: For a little bit because they're all terrified it's going

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Speaker 2: to get taken away.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a very good like flight club.

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Speaker 2: You don't talk about it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly. Now, one of Australia's top compliance training companies, SafeTrack,

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Speaker 1: is under police investigation, accused of spying on staff working

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Speaker 1: from home. This is extraordinary, this story.

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Speaker 2: This I appreciate that it's only Tuesday, but this is

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Speaker 2: taking my story of the week. SafeTrack allegedly used software

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Speaker 2: to secretly turn employee laptops into listening devices, recording up

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Speaker 2: to ten hours a day of meetings, private conversations, and

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Speaker 2: even family discussions. I don't think anyone needs to hear

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Speaker 2: about my family's conversations over the dinner table, to be honest.

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Speaker 2: The company's CEO, admitting the surveillance went on for weeks.

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Speaker 2: SafeTrack claims workers consented under its surveillance policy, workers refuting

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Speaker 2: this claim and claiming that some were in fact sacked

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Speaker 2: after raising concerns. Victoria police, regulators and unions are now

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Speaker 2: probing the case, which has already led to one worker

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Speaker 2: receiving compensation for anxiety and depression.

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Speaker 1: God, there's a lot in that.

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Speaker 2: And then you've got Reese group who are like, oh,

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Speaker 2: we can't get our workers to come into the office.

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Speaker 2: But I think what it does highlight examples of is

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Speaker 2: the work from home conversation that we've been talking about

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Speaker 2: persistently now for weeks and months. There's no simple way

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Speaker 2: to do it, and there is no one size fits all.

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Speaker 2: And then you also have a lot of focus placed

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Speaker 2: on employees and they're slacking off. And on the flip side,

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Speaker 2: you've got employers they're using tactics like digital surveillance.

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Speaker 1: M it is. This is one that I suspect a

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Speaker 1: lot of people are going to be watching quite closely now,

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Speaker 1: Like your thoughts on this one. Optimism, not intelligence, apparently

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Speaker 1: maybe the strongest predictor of career success, with research showing

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Speaker 1: that happy employees perform better, earn more, and receive stronger

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Speaker 1: evaluations and they're less positive peers.

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Speaker 2: It's interesting, isn't it, I say, with a really big

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Speaker 2: smile on my face. The comments follow a series of studies,

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Speaker 2: For instance, a nineteen ninety five study of MetLife salespeople

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Speaker 2: which found that the most optimistic recruits sold up to

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Speaker 2: eighty eight percent more than the most pessimistic. Meanwhile, a

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Speaker 2: twenty to twenty one seve of about nine hundred thousand

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Speaker 2: US soldiers found the happiest were more likely to win

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Speaker 2: performance awards even more than those with the highest skill

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Speaker 2: or IQ. Happier people apparently tend to be more ambitious,

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Speaker 2: more creative, more collaborative, more resilient. The big question, of course,

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Speaker 2: can we become more positive and therefore more successful. Experts

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Speaker 2: have suggested that about forty percent of happiness is actually

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Speaker 2: within our control and advocate a couple of simple steps

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Speaker 2: to boosting successes, like keeping a gratitude journal, recording three

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Speaker 2: daily highlights, or even just picturing your best future where

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Speaker 2: we're big fans of manifesting here.

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Speaker 1: Yes, and it also just sounds like it's an argument

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Speaker 1: for being nice at work, right, Well, that's the point.

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Speaker 2: You've got your more collaborative, you've got better work relationships,

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Speaker 2: so surely, yeah, that is going to favor you somewhat.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, here's a tip, just don't be a thundercloud just

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Speaker 1: storming around at work, and you'll probably go a little

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Speaker 1: bit further.

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Speaker 2: Anyway, A radiator not a drain.

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Speaker 1: Is that a real saying.

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Speaker 2: That is a real saying. I just said it.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to get that on a bumper sticker. That

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Speaker 1: is fantastic. Now plug in hybrid vehicles, Maybe that's what

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Speaker 1: I can put the bumper stick her on. They are

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Speaker 1: surging in Australia, defying predictions that full battery evs would dominate.

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Speaker 2: In just two years, plugin vehicles have risen from about

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Speaker 2: ten percent to a quarter of EV sales, with over

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Speaker 2: sixty thousand now on Australian roads. I was surprised by this,

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Speaker 2: but utes and SUVs actually account for most sales, wondering

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Speaker 2: what the difference is. Well, Unlike full battery evs, plug

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Speaker 2: in hybrids can run on fuel or battery, offering more

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Speaker 2: flexibility and definitely easing that range anxiety. While supporters say

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Speaker 2: that phivs are a stepping stone to full electrification for

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Speaker 2: those not quite ready to make the leap, critics warn

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Speaker 2: they prolong reliance on fuel and may undermine emissions reduction goals.

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Speaker 1: Okay. Turning to international news now, Israeli aircraft and tanks

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Speaker 1: have intensified strikes on Gaza City's outskirts, as leaders vow

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Speaker 1: to push ahead with the major offensive despite calls from

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Speaker 1: Israel's military chief to accept a ceasefire deal with her.

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Speaker 2: Lieutenant General Zamir has warned hostages could be killed if

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Speaker 2: forces storm gars a city, sending a message to Israeli

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Speaker 2: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahoo that there is a deal on

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Speaker 2: the table it must be taken now. Hamas has signal

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Speaker 2: support for a sixty day true swapping prisoners for hostages,

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Speaker 2: and opening talks on our lasting peace.

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Speaker 1: The Trump administration is drawing fire over plans to send

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Speaker 1: National Guard troops now into Chicago, with critics accusing the

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Speaker 1: president of quote manufacturing a crisis.

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Speaker 2: Pentagon officials confirmed preparations are underway, with up to seventeen

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Speaker 2: hundred Guard members mobilizing across nineteen states to back the

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Speaker 2: president's immigration crackdown. Democrats blasted the move's unconstitutional and politically motivated,

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Speaker 2: again comments around manufacturing a crisis. The Chicago mayor, Brandon

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Speaker 2: Johnson has called it the most flagrant violation of our

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Speaker 2: constitution in the twenty first century. The US president insists

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Speaker 2: that troops are needed to come back crime, despite data

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Speaker 2: showing shootings in Chicago actually fell nearly forty percent in

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Speaker 2: the past year. It also follows earlier deployments to Washington

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Speaker 2: and Los Angeles.

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Speaker 1: All right. Last one, Europe sweltering under hate waves and wildfires.

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Speaker 1: Tourists are increasingly swapping the Mediterranean for what they call

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Speaker 1: coolcations in Nordic countries.

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Speaker 2: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, they're all seeing record arrivals driven by

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Speaker 2: climate concerns, sanctions, rerouting cruise ships, and growing interest in

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Speaker 2: Scandinavian culture, not least of all because I actually keep

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Speaker 2: telling everyone to visit Copenhagen.

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Speaker 1: It is the best well in Sean Aylmer is in

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Speaker 1: that whole region at the moment, Like he just keeps

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Speaker 1: popping up everywhere, doesn't he enjoying his euro vacation. He's

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Speaker 1: cool caation now it's location.

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Speaker 2: But come the crowds like Sewan Aylmer. Come the problems

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Speaker 2: over tourism, environmental damage and tension between residents' needs and

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Speaker 2: tourism revenue. Governments are pushing back by rolling out tourist

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Speaker 2: taxes and sustain ability schemes, and even planning zero emission

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Speaker 2: rules for cruise ships.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there was a ship that wanted to get into

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Speaker 1: the harbor at Oslo and they said Norway.

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Speaker 2: Oh, that's that's really bad.

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Speaker 1: That was terror. I'm sorry. Up next is fear and

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Speaker 1: greed Q And a our guest today is Noel Williams

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Speaker 1: from PwC. It is about the three key takeaways from

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Speaker 1: the big bank results with one the one that I

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Speaker 1: found most interesting was about the role of AI and

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Speaker 1: what is happening with AI and the potential for smaller

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Speaker 1: startups essentially to come in, be really aggressive in the

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Speaker 1: way that they are using AI and really steal a

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Speaker 1: significant market share away from the big banks if they

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Speaker 1: are not responding more quickly. It is a great conversation.

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Speaker 1: It's coming up next in the Fear and Greed playlist

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Speaker 1: on your podcast platform. Thank you very much, Natalie, Thank you, Michael.

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Speaker 1: It is Tuesday, the twenty sixth of August twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 1: Make sure you're following the podcast and please join us

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Speaker 1: online on LinkedIn, Instagram, x TikTok and Facebook. I'm Michael

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Speaker 1: Thompson and that was Fear and Greed. Have a great day.