This is what the flux.
I'm justin and I'm harsh Deep and it's Friday, the fourteenth of June.
Ag The unemployment rate for May was down ever so slightly on April, from four point one percent to four percent. The good news is it this minor change is unlikely to drive the RBA to lift interest rate.
Good news indeed.
But the bad news is it this minor change is also unlikely to drive the RBA to drop interest rates.
Flux fam, we're coming up to the end of the financial year and that means starting to think about all the last minute ways to reduce your tax. In the Flux app, we've listed a whole range of ways to reduce your tax before June thirty, so make sure to check it out.
Really nifty ones in their HD absolutely three savvy stories today, let's get into it for our first. Chemist Warehouse is eight point eight billion dollar IPO listing has hit a roadblock after the ahribl C has worned that its merger would substantially lessen competition.
Surely this merger is too big to fail. Tell me everything.
It's fair to say that pretty much everyone in Australia would know the Chemist ware house brand by now.
Those big yellow stores that give more Bunnings Warehouse than local pharmacy vibes.
They even have their own radio station, Chemists Warehouse Remix.
You know you've made it when you've got your own radio station and a share.
Over the past twenty years, chemist Warehouse has grown into an absolute manine.
We're talking over five hundred stores and over twenty thousand employees across Australia, New Zealand and even China.
Now, in December last year, Chemist's Warehouse announced it would merge with Sigma Healthcare through an eight point eight billion dollar reverse takeover.
Sigma is a wholesaler in the pharmacy space who supplies drugs to small and large pharmacies.
But it's also the owner of Amcal pharmacies and discount drug stores so Jazz.
Obviously, this massive eight point eight billion dollar merger caught the eye of the A Triple C and.
The A Triple C the big dog has now warned that this merger would substantially lessen the competition in the pharmacy retailing space.
With both the wholesale and retail arms, the merged group would extend its vertical integration.
And its influence across the country.
So tell me Judz, what's the key learning here.
The greater the vertical integration, the greater the chance of being anti competitive.
As well. Vertical integration can help streamline operations, it can also help increase market control.
And this can raise big red flags with regulators.
Vertical integration is when a company expands its operations into other areas that serve its main business.
It's kind of like a bakery deciding to grow its own wheat as well as selling its delicious cheese mites, scrolls and cinnamon buns and jazz.
Sigma's move to merge with Chemist Warehouse is a textbook example of vertical integration.
So actually, given more than seventy percent of chemist warehouses revenue comes from front of house items like sunscreen and toothbrushes and perfumes, Chemist Warehouse is actually arguing that it competes more with coals and woolies, okay, rather than small pharmacies.
We'll see what the competition watchdog thinks about that.
For our second story, Apple is introducing buy now, pay later style loans to Australian customers through a new partnership with an Z.
Just as we got the buying our pay later chat out of the media. It's back tell me more.
Okay. So Apple launches Apple Pay feature in iPhones back in October twenty fourteen.
That's where you can connect your card and then tap your phone to make a purchase.
And the whole tap your phone leave you a lot at home movement has really taken off.
Oh yeah, and A and Z was the first Australian bank to let its customers make card payments from iPhones in twenty sixteen.
But now they're going one step further because A and Z has partnered with Apple to allow iPhone users to access buy now, pay later style loans via Apple Pay.
Basically, when a customer taps their phone, it gives them the option to split the payment into three, six or twelve month installments, and.
Then they pay a fee on that rather than interest.
And Apple ane stopping with just A and Z. They're willing to open it up to after pay, Zip and others to grow its buy now pay later, but.
ATCHI many of the other big banks like CommBank a pretty reluctant to be out with Apple for this.
Yep. It allows Apple to grow its power in the financial services space.
Even more so, tell me what is the keyler Keep.
Your friends closed, but keep your enemies closer HG.
Well hand Z is partnering with Apple today. It's also a direct competitor Apple if it decides to step deeper into the banking arena does.
Apple often seems to buddy up with other companies when they lack specific capabilities.
In this case, it's a banking license in Australia.
Or back in twenty twelve, it was using Google Maps as a default map on iPhones before building their own maps.
But AHG, once they develop their own solutions or have enough market chair, Apple starts to tighten their grip on that speciet market.
Apple first partnered with banks on tap to Pay in twenty sixteen, and by twenty twenty two, transactions through smartphones in Australia hit ninety three billion dollars.
And Apple's Tap to Pay represents an eighty percent share of Wow Digital Wall at payments.
Now, Apple makes more than one hundred and thirty million dollars in annual fees in Australia from the banks using its software and AHG.
This is part of the reason why CommBank has been so critical about Apple's growing power in payments and financial services in Australia.
For our third and final story, Quantas has whole only acquired online travel business trip a Deal in a two hundred and eleven million dollar acquisition with the hopes to ramp up its loyalty points offering.
Quanta's really been showing its loyalty program a lot of love this year, so tell me more. Well.
Just Quantus, which is Australia's national airline carrier, is also the third oldest airline in the world.
But it's fair to say it has been on a roller coast to geny lately yep.
Since twenty twenty, Quantus has had mass layoffs, gigantic profit announcements, a concerning a triple C inquiry I ME, and a CEO change just to name a few.
But after bringing in a new CEO, Quantus has been on a mission to rebuild its reputation.
And now Quantus has announced that it will acquire the remaining forty nine percent stake in online travel business trip a Deal in a deal worth two hundred and eleven million dollars.
And this is after Quantus had acquired a major stake in tripa Deal back in twenty twenty two. They've now come back for the whole business. Yep.
Quantus expects this investment to bring in at least fifty million dollars annually.
What Quantus is most excited about is leveraging Triper Deal to offer its customers more ways to cash in on their frequent fly points.
So tell me, Jars, what's the key learning here.
When a business officer loyalty program, it needs to manage the risk of its growing liability very carefully.
You see, Quantitus customers have been earning their points at an increasing rate.
We're talking about two hundred billion points accumulating annually.
In fact, points issuance shot up by forty eight percent last financial year.
But actually, these unused points aren't just an issue for customers. They're a liability on Quantus's balance sheet too.
Yeah, unused frequent flyer points are a liability worth about thirteen point eight percent of Quantus' overall revenue.
And that's why Quantus has been putting in efforts to find better ways for customers to use their frequent fly points. Flux Family. We are sixteen days away from the end of this financial year, and that means sixteen days to reduce your caxible income in financial year twenty twenty four. We've got to cover it in the Flux app with a whole range of ways to reduce attacks before June thirty, so make sure to check it all out.
Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Monday.