Speaker 1: This is what the Flux I'm brand aren't justin And
Speaker 1: it's Friday, the fourth of.
Speaker 2: October, douzyboy. The annual rate of retail spending jumped more
Speaker 2: than three percent in August, a result that really nobody expected.
Speaker 2: But there is a reason behind this result, my friend.
Speaker 2: It was the warmest August nationally since nineteen ten, if
Speaker 2: you don't mind. And as a result, summer merch was
Speaker 2: on the shelves and then quickly off the shelves as well.
Speaker 1: Actually, update statman a flexim did you know that September
Speaker 1: was the best performing September in over a decade on
Speaker 1: the share market in Australia. And if you still have
Speaker 1: no idea how to get into the share market, what
Speaker 1: to do? We have the Flex Academy this month dedicated
Speaker 1: to investing in the share market, how to buy and sell,
Speaker 1: what your investing strategy should be, and also how to
Speaker 1: manage your portfolio. It's at thanks to our partnership with
Speaker 1: Rays and if you want to check it out this month,
Speaker 1: there are big prizes on offer. Make sure to download
Speaker 1: the Flux app and check out the academy.
Speaker 2: Three very educational stories today, Dozy boy, let's do it
Speaker 2: for our first. SPC, the Aussie canned fruit and veg producer,
Speaker 2: has finalized a three way merger with Original Juice Company
Speaker 2: and Nature One Dairy.
Speaker 1: Geez, not often you hear about a three way corporate
Speaker 1: marriage here, b man, no very polygamous of them.
Speaker 2: So tell me more well. SBC Global was founded in
Speaker 2: nineteen seventeen and specializes in food manufacturing.
Speaker 1: You know those iconic little dist fruit salents that every
Speaker 1: primary school kid has in the larch.
Speaker 2: Box, YEP and Jazi boy. These little fruit packs helped
Speaker 2: SPC generate two hundred and seventy one million dollars in
Speaker 2: revenue for the twenty twenty four financial year.
Speaker 1: In comparison, Original Juice Company had about forty nine mel
Speaker 1: in revenue and the powdered milk maker Nature One Dairy.
Speaker 2: Posted around forty six meal Now, Jose Boy, the three
Speaker 2: companies are merging into one bigger beast. Now.
Speaker 1: According to SBC, this merged company is all about maximizing
Speaker 1: the unique strength to.
Speaker 2: Achieve spc's globble vision Yep. Now SBC is going to
Speaker 2: provide Original Juice with some extra manufacturing capacities.
Speaker 1: It's going to be a bigger distribution network so they
Speaker 1: can expand.
Speaker 2: And old Nature one Dairy They're going to give their
Speaker 2: new partner companies access to exporting so they can export
Speaker 2: to Asian customers.
Speaker 1: Ultimately, b Man, this means SBC is one giant step
Speaker 1: closer to achieving their global company they've really been striving for.
Speaker 2: They want to build the nestlay of Australia, if you
Speaker 2: don't mind, Jusie boy very bold. So what is the
Speaker 2: key learning here? When it comes to going global in
Speaker 2: an aggressive way, It's important to pick the right product mix.
Speaker 1: You see, b Man, SBC has rush delicious ambitions of
Speaker 1: entering into Asia Pacific, then up to the Middle East
Speaker 1: and then to Europe.
Speaker 2: And this deal has quote unquote synergies written all over it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, approximately ninety five percent of Nature one Dairies products
Speaker 1: assault in pharmacies in Asian markets across thirteen countries.
Speaker 2: And so SBC and therefore original juice company they want
Speaker 2: to take advantage of this and be Man.
Speaker 1: This expansion overseas could potentially offset some of the challenges
Speaker 1: that SPC has faced in Australia. This three way merger
Speaker 1: is now expected to generate four hundred million bucks in
Speaker 1: revenue and more than twenty nine mili in.
Speaker 2: Earnings and suddenly SPC is the best chance we've got
Speaker 2: in Australia to achieve our very own Nesley. So true
Speaker 2: for our second story, Character one of the leaders in AI,
Speaker 2: is ditching its plans to make AI models after its
Speaker 2: founders were poached by Google more than two point seven
Speaker 2: billion US dollars. Yep, Character ai has really been thrown
Speaker 2: under the bus. So I want to know what's going on,
Speaker 2: Josey boy okay. So.
Speaker 1: Character ai is an AI chatbot that was started up
Speaker 1: by an ex Google developer back in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2: The service that simulates conversations with characters that you can
Speaker 2: design and also celebrities. And I'm talking text and voice, so.
Speaker 1: B man, if you really wanted an your big fan,
Speaker 1: you could ask Gandal for some life advice.
Speaker 2: That's huge for me, or jose boit you could ask Voldemort,
Speaker 2: your hero, why he was so obsessed with taking down
Speaker 2: a teenage boy. Straight, very good.
Speaker 1: Question, now, mean man. Originally, Character ai was building its
Speaker 1: own large language model for its product, but now it's
Speaker 1: decided to abandon building AI models and instead is going
Speaker 1: to focus on improving its chat bok and this is
Speaker 1: after Google made a deal with character Ai for one
Speaker 1: time license to its tech and its founders came away
Speaker 1: with a two point seven billion US dollar deal.
Speaker 2: And Jesse, wait, why did they take this deal with
Speaker 2: so much hype around the product? Good question.
Speaker 1: They said that building models is insanely expensive for a startup.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, tech giants like Microsoft, Google, they are splashing their
Speaker 2: hundreds of billions of dollars to get ahead in this
Speaker 2: AI race. So what is the key learning here? Innovation
Speaker 2: pays off for those who can afford it.
Speaker 1: You see me, man, tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Apple,
Speaker 1: they're sitting on a lot of cash.
Speaker 2: We'd be talking around four hundred billion dollars in cash collectively,
Speaker 2: which makes it.
Speaker 1: A lot easier for them to stay ahead of the curb.
Speaker 1: With innovation, they can continue pumping money into R and
Speaker 1: D without thinking twice.
Speaker 2: On the other hand, startups like character Ai have restrictive budgets, which.
Speaker 1: Means they tend to run out of cash or get
Speaker 1: acquired by one of the bigger players. And the man,
Speaker 1: it kind of reminds me of what happened with Pebble,
Speaker 1: that smart watch company back in the day.
Speaker 2: Oh right, I remember Jasi Void Pebble was one of
Speaker 2: the first players in this smart watch space.
Speaker 1: But by twenty sixteen, it's sold a fit bit for
Speaker 1: just forty million US dollars because it struggled to keep
Speaker 1: up with smart watches that were made by Google and Apple.
Speaker 2: Seems like the cycle of tech giants leading innovation will
Speaker 2: just continue.
Speaker 1: For our third and final story, Origin Energy has seen
Speaker 1: its share price drop after REVI It's going to abandon
Speaker 1: its plans to develop hydrogen energy.
Speaker 2: Hydrogen energy running out of a bit of steam. Sadly here,
Speaker 2: jussy boy go on.
Speaker 1: Origin Energy is the electricity and gas provider over four
Speaker 1: and a half million Australian customers.
Speaker 2: Yep, the same very providers that send you a five
Speaker 2: hundred dollar bill when you freezed through the entire winter.
Speaker 2: So true you see, juzy boy. Back in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 2: Origin announced plans for a potential hydrogen project in the
Speaker 2: Hunter Valley of New South Wales and.
Speaker 1: If successful, they would start to produce hydrogen, a renewable energy.
Speaker 1: By twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: It's sadly Origin warned that it will be abandoning its
Speaker 2: hydrogen ventures.
Speaker 1: And what was the reason for this? One?
Speaker 2: B man, Well, it's pretty simple. Juzzy Boy, too expensive
Speaker 2: and costly to continue pursuing this one.
Speaker 1: And I must say this is a pretty big blow
Speaker 1: for the federal government as well.
Speaker 2: Yep. They were hoping that Origin would become one of
Speaker 2: the pioneers in this transition to renewable power here in Australia.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: And despite all the government subsidies and the incentives for
Speaker 2: hydrogen producers, it's still couldn't convince Origin to build the facility.
Speaker 2: Interesting not strong on the old convincing side of things.
Speaker 2: So what is the key learning here?
Speaker 1: Unlocking innovative technology is one thing, but making it commercially
Speaker 1: viable is another.
Speaker 2: Yep. Now, hydrogen was considered to be the solution to
Speaker 2: decarbonization and a transition to renewable energy, but Joey Boy
Speaker 2: sadly turning into a pretty big commercial bust.
Speaker 1: And that's because it's costing a pretty penny to get
Speaker 1: cardridg and scalable and joy boy.
Speaker 2: Origin isn't the only energy company to pull the pin yep.
Speaker 1: Ford Eskew had a green hydrogen initiative, but it accumulated
Speaker 1: over two billion dollars in losses with nothing to show
Speaker 1: for it.
Speaker 2: So they pulled the pin as well and.
Speaker 1: Be man while cutting out technology. The battles climate change
Speaker 1: sounds exciting, shareholders are sadly only willing to wait so
Speaker 1: long to see the results.
Speaker 2: Buckspam.
Speaker 1: We always talk about different companies who share prices are
Speaker 1: gone up, gone down on the pod. But if you
Speaker 1: want to learn more about how you can invest in
Speaker 1: these companies, it all starts in the Flux Academy. This
Speaker 1: month we talk about how to buy and sell shares,
Speaker 1: what analysis you need to do, and also how to
Speaker 1: manage your portfolio.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening and we'll see you on Monday