Lovisa faces class action lawsuit | Bunnings ramps up its media | Microsoft's mega AI spend

This is what the Flux I'm brand and I'm justin ads Monday to third of February, does it boy.

The government got a bit of a shock when it released the taxes received from tobacco had dropped to a nine year low. And no it's not because of a dramatic drop in smokers here in Australia, but because smokers are turning to the black market for cheaper cigarettes. And just get this, in the last financial year the government pocketed nine point seven billion dollars from the tobacco tax, down.

From over sixteen billion the year before. Very very interesting man, Flux man. It's the beginning of a brand new month, which means it is a brand new opportunity to check whether your credit score has gone up, whether it's gone down, and how it's changed over the past month. We have it all covered in the Flux app with a very simple and easy to understand credit score is all to make sure to download the Flux app and check your credit score. February three.

Refreshing stories today, Dozy boy, Let's do it for our first Levisa. The jewelry chain is facing a class action from its employees after allegedly forced staff to work for free outside rosted hours.

Jeez, Lavisa's team sparkle may be losing its shine. Be man, so tell me more well, Juzyboit.

Lavisa started in twenty ten as a fast fashioned jewelry chain with budget friendly bullying. Yeah, they release hundreds of new styles of jewelry every single week, and over the past fourteen years, the company has grown to over six hundred stores around the world.

Including listing on the ASEX in twenty fourteen, and now worth a casual three point two billion dollars.

But behind the glitz of Lavisa, things might not be so golden.

Lavisa's facing a class action lawsuit from its employees for allegedly breaching workers' rights That includes paying them the wrong base rate. That includes not paying staff for attending training, as well.

As forcing staff to perform duties before or after they're rosted.

Chiff and the man, we are just talking about five employees or fifty employees alleging this behavior. Wow, how many are we talking? We're talking three hundred employees, most of who are young women in high school, in university and Joseboit.

If this lawsuit is successful, it could have a significant impact on Lavisa's financial results and its reputation.

So what is the key learning here?

When a company is hit with a workplace lawsuit, the implications can extend far beyond legal fees.

We often see class actions result in in pretty hefty settlements that can drain companies resources.

For example, in twenty twenty one, Woolworth's was forced to repay five hundred and seventy one million dollars after underpaying Star and that had.

A significant impact on its profit for the year.

But jus boyd, there are also serious implications beyond direct financial losses.

These type of lawsuits can also erode brand trust, particularly if it's so public in the.

Media like this is Yeah, we know that consumers today are more socially conscious, so any negative press can drive customers away.

And be man. It seems like this lawsuit isn't the first time Levisa has been criticized for its workplace practices.

Nope, its employer rating on SEK is two point seven out of five, two point four out of five on Glassdoor, and one point six out of five on Product Review.

Yikes, So be man, Levisa might need more than a quick polish to fix it. Class action.

For our second story, Bunnings has begun rolling out three hundred large in store LED screens throughout its hardware stores to build a retail media behemoth.

It's only a matter of time that the partnerships moved from the ads on TV to the ads in the stores. Tell me more, b Man, Well we know.

Bunnings is the iconic Australian hardware store with the so bare they're kind of good, jingle heavy ads and.

The iconic snags that haven't changed in years.

The place where you walk in for a pack of screws and somehow leave with a trolley full of power tools.

Yilty and be Man. Bunnings has grown into an absolute behemoth over the past decade.

In fact, its revenue has topped nineteen billion dollars in the last financial year.

But Bunnings isn't just about hammers and host fittings anymore, b Man, It's building a retail media empire.

Bannings has started to roll out LED screens across its stores, sprooking products of its hardware suppliers.

In exchange for a very tasty fee, of course, and.

These screens will be placed in strategic positions around their stores, a bit.

Like how Woollies, Coals and Chemists Warehouse do it as well, and the retail media intr is growing rapidly. In Bunnings wants a little slash enormous piece of the pie. Yep, So what is the key learning here?

Retail media has become the latest shiny new tool in the retail shed to expand revenue out of existing stores.

It's all about using data to target shoppers right when they shop.

Whether that's a cheeky digital billboard in Bunnings for a Reobi drill just as you're shopping in the drill section, or.

An instore radio ad for Telfast when you're shopping at Chemist Warehouse and Juzyboy analysts reckon.

This retail media industry is already worth more than one point six billion dollars in Australia.

Will Worth already makes five hundred and fifty mil from it.

And just for the record, Juzzi Boy Woolly's digital media business has grown at thirty four percent over the past four years.

So Bunnings is own our West Farmers be thinking let's get in there, starting with trusty old Bunnings.

For our third and final story, Microsoft has seen its profit jump by more than ten percent from a year before. But not all is as good as meets the AI very good.

I say what you did there, be man, so tell me more. Well.

Microsoft is one of the great eight success stories of the past couple of decades.

Juzzy boy. Yeah, it's always been a behemoth, but in the early two thousands, Microsoft kind of lost its way. Back in twenty fourteen, it pivoted the business to have a much bigger focus on cloud computing, which has now become a core part of its revenue and now b man. Microsoft has said its revenue is jumped by twelve percent to nearly seventy billion US dollars for the last twelve months, and profits up ten percent as well, both of which beat Microsoft and the investor markets expectations.

But Microsoft also flagged that it would spend about eighty billion US dollars on data centers this financial year, not.

What investors want to hear just a few days after they hear about deep Zeek. Oh interesting, juzzy boy. So what is the key learning here? For big tech companies? Balancing high growth with high spending is an ongoing challenge. On one hand, investors cheer when revenue beats expectations like Microsoft did right here. But on the other hand, investors also get nervous when a company hints at massive spending

The good news for Microsoft is that it's AI business generated an annual revenue run rate of thirteen billion US dollars.

But b Man investors are worried about when they'll start to see an actual return on the AI investment, which keeps getting higher and higher each year, particularly since the announcement of Deep Seek creating very very cheap AI models. FLUXPAM. Your credit score is one of the key attributes that a banged or a lender, or even your mobile phone provider will looked at before you apply for a product, so make sure you see what they can see about

Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Wednesday.