That's it for today. Thanks for joining us.
See you tomorrow.
That's it for today. Thanks for joining us.
See you tomorrow.
Zip Co (+11.83%) and Premier Investments (9.91%) were the top movers today, followed by Mineral Resources (+7.15%) and Tabcorp (+5.49%).
Among the worst performers were Coronado Global Resources (-6.64%), Paladin Energy (-4.92%), and Resmed (-2.97%).
My colleague Kirsten Aiken has spoken to Myer CEO Olivia Wirth about Myer's planned acquisition of Premier Investment's five Apparel Brands - Jay Jays, Dotti, Jacqui E, Just Jeans and Portmans.
Ms Wirth has described the acquisition as a "growth story" for Myer, saying the five brands cater towards a very broad range of ages - from young consumers to older consumers - and it will allow Myer to apply the "very popular" Myer one program, which has 10.6 million customers, more broadly across that whole suite of apparel.
"We announced some time ago that there is a strategic view underway, and this is all about making sure that we have a very clear and direction over the next five to seven years, to make sure that we can move onto a growth footing," Ms Wirth said.
You can catch more tonight on The Business at 8:45pm AEST:
The ASX200 has gained valued for the third day in a row.
It's risen by 27 points (+0.34%), to close on 8,249 points.
Following on from that post about e-waste and generative AI:
Just 10 per cent of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in Australia are collected and sent offshore for processing, with the rest either stockpiled or put in landfill where they can cause "significant environmental harm".
Edith Cowan University senior research engineer Yasir Arafat and Daryoush Habibi have been working to raise awareness about Australia's "alarmingly low" recycling rate for LIBs which, in landfill, can lead to the leakage of hazardous metals like cobalt, nickel and manganese.
Australia currently produces about 3,300 tonnes of LIB waste a year, according to the CSIRO, with the federal government projecting Australia's annual wastage to soar to 137,000 tonnes by 2035.
Dr Arafat says East Asian countries such as China, South Korea and Japan currently dominate the global recycling landscape for LIBs, accounting for 71 per cent of recycling plants:
Where's it all leading?
A new study published in Nature Computational Science estimates that generative AI could generate up to 2.3 million tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) per year by 2030.
Generative AI produced about 2,400 tonnes of e-waste in 2023. But that relatively small figure will shoot up when vast data centres built to develop products such as ChatGPT are gutted of computer parts succeeded by new designs.
E-waste is now the planet's fastest-growing waste stream. A record 62 million tonnes of e-waste was produced in 2022, according to the UN's global e-waste monitor report.
Companies importing electronic goods or building data centres in Australia are currently under no legal obligation to consider the volume of e-waste they generate.
Zip Co is an Australian-based company that provides point-of-sale credit and digital payment services in two core markets — Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and the United States (US).
And its shares are currently trading 12% higher.
It provided an update to the ASX this morning, before the market opened, with its results for the quarter ending 30 September 2024 (1Q25).
It said it achieved unaudited group cash EBTDA of $31.7 million (up 233.7% on 1Q24) in the quarter, driven by a "particularly strong performance in the US business".
Also:
It says Zip US delivered total transaction volume (TTV) of US$1.3 billion, up 42.8% vs the same period last year, and revenue of US$92.1 million, an increase of 43.9% on the same period last year.
And Zip US continued to expand its merchant partnerships in the US, signing FanBasis, GameStop, Major League Baseball Ticketing via Tickets.com, Major League Baseball Shop, Take 5 Oil Change and Tools.com.
And its share price is up significantly today:
Neurologists and Parkinson's Australia are calling on the regulator to ban paraquat over its links with Parkinson's disease.
But Cotton Australia wants to continue using the chemical at its current legal rates of application.
A proposed regulatory decision was released in August recommending tighter restrictions on the chemical's use and lower usage rates.
Public consultation on the proposal is due to close on Tuesday.
Myer shares were up earlier this morning, but now they're trading in negative territory. Premier shares, on the other hand, are still doing well.
Veteran retail consultant Geoff Dart says Myer's deal with Premier Investments "does not make sense."
"Both [companies] are diametrically opposed demographically, trying to cater for 13-year-olds to 80-year-olds is problematic," he told the ABC.
"It's going to be a real struggle, it honestly is. It's not a healthy environment for retail, generally."
Mr Dart said the deal was a win for Premier but could spell disaster for Myer, which he described as an "old, tired" brand that needed a marketing overhaul.
"I'd rebrand Myer. The time's come where it's either do or die, it's down $3.3 billion with store closures declining 2.9 per cent, it's eroding," he said.
He said an enormous amount of investment had already gone into refitting Myer stores.
"They just have to do things differently and be modern and international which they're not."