While early news of the deal saw Domain soar to the $4 range, if you look at the company’s share price up to 20 February of this year, the $4.43 offer stands at nearly 60% premium. (Using a three month value weighted average.)

In short, CoStar sees Domain as undervalued, and, unable to fully take off. Compare Domain to competitor REA Group, which boasts a share price over $220/sh. The offer for domain is an implied A$3B, compared to REA’s market cap of $31B.

A further fully franked special dividend of 10cps may be paid out to shareholders subject to availability of franking credits.

“The Domain Board unanimously recommends that Domain shareholders vote in favour of the Scheme, in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an Independent Expert concluding (and continuing to conclude) that the Scheme is in the best interests of Domain Shareholders,” the company wrote on Friday.

What matters most of all is whether or not Nine – as in the TV station – votes in support of the deal, which it intends to. Domain, owned by the media brand, is effectively why websites under that masthead run so many property-based articles.

The media presence surrounding Domain may or may not waver after CoStar’s buyout, something I’ve written up before.

“The Domain Board has carefully considered the CoStar proposal and believes it represents compelling value and a high degree of certainty for Domain shareholders, through the cash offer and limited conditionality,” Chair Nick Falloon added.

DHG last traded at $4.35/sh.

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“The board is considering these unsolicited approaches and will keep the market updated in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations should material terms be finalised,” CEO Tommy Logtenberg said.

“The company has not made any decision on the capital markets business and there is no certainty that any transaction will result, or if so on what terms, following these approaches.”

According to independent Similarweb data in January, HotCopper has 7.5 million visitors monthly, with more visitors returning more often – and for longer – than competitors including Market Index, Stockhead, Proactive Investors, and Livewire Markets.

GUM last traded at 9cps at midday on Friday.

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The clients, Roy Hill and Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS), have signed up for 12 months; the former was already the first mine with entertainment and engagement solution Swift Access.

This product includes a low bandwidth entertainment feature, which enables early-release access for sought-after movies and other communication tools.

Roy Hill has previously implemented Swift Access at its personnel village in 2022 and will now become the first client to roll out the next generation (Swift Access 2025), with the rollout to begin later in April.

Pilbara’s renewal will mean another 12-month subscription to Swift’s products.

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Swift CEO Brian Mangano said the renewals were a testament to the quality of the services on offer in the communication package. “We are very pleased to continue to work with Roy Hill to create and develop the best entertainment and engagement experience for their team on site,” he said.

“The continuation of our subscription agreements with Pilbara Minerals and Roy Hill also reinforces the demand for Swift’s reliable and value-for-money village entertainment services across the mining sector.”

Swift has been trading at 1cps through this red Friday.

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The news, Domain was sure to note on Monday, does not reflect a guarantee the deal will go ahead. But if Domain feels it’s not being ripped off, its directors intend to vote in favour of the deal, and they’ll suggest others do the same. (Read: Retail shareholders.)

That probably won’t be a tough sell for many of Domain’s retail holders though. Nor is it likely to scare off any high net worth or institutional entities.

While shares were down -1.16% in the second hour of Monday morning trades, Domain has retained its +30% 1Y returns following a meteoric share price hike following CoStar’s proposition on February 21.

There it has largely remained, give or take intraday volatility – but it’s clear the Australian market is fully expecting this deal to go ahead.

Under the DD period, CoStar can do what it wants in a ‘virtual data room’ assessing Domain’s books, while Doman is going to an “independent expert” to validate the deal.

If that expert says it’s fine, if Domain doesn’t feel CoStar has changed the goalposts around the deal, and if everyone (on Domain’s end) “continues” to agree the deal is good value, then things are looking pretty good.

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Unless, of course, someone apart from CoStar comes along and makes a better offer in the meantime. But a 40% premium for a company that has long struggled to perform quite as well as Murdoch-backed REA seems pretty hard to beat for most investors, thus the retention of gains.

DHG last traded at $4.28/sh.

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The beleaguered Australian media titan said this reflected both pressures on economic and advertising markets more generally – but also the loss of a commercial deal with Meta and its associated revenues.

Profit after taxes and minorities also registered a fall, set at $95M for the six months to December 2024; down from $134M in the prior corresponding period.

In its report, Nine spruiked the cultural transformation which had been rolled out since a third-party review published in October showed concerning levels of inappropriate behaviours, and made 22 recommendations for change.

This was followed less than two months later by an Action Plan that was endorsed by the company board to change its culture.

“We have worked together over the past six months to build a roadmap for strategic and cultural transformation,” Acting CEO Matt Stanton said, declaring the issue has been an important focal point for Nine.

“I am proud of the way our people have responded, with strong engagement and an overwhelming spirit of constructive optimism.

“I am confident that the changes we have made and continue to implement will ensureNine remains an integral player at the forefront of media in Australia.”

Nine shares were higher on Tuesday, and at 1:28pm they were trading at $1.69 – a rise of 3.53% since the market opened.

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That news, among a general story of growth reported by the company on Tuesday, has been enough to add 1.6% in Tuesday morning trades. Its activities in Asia are expanding; ANZ’s growth prospects remain fairly desirable, and Seek still retains the benefit of multiple broker ‘buy’ ratings.

But it’s what it had to say about the Australian jobs market on Tuesday which could perhaps give us insight into what the RBA will be looking at next – regardless of if it cuts or pauses on Tuesday.

That the rate at which job advertisements have been declining is slowing down could point towards a ‘floor’ for the labour market (so as to say things aren’t going to get much worse), while the unemployment rate is still 4.1%.

In that universe, with ‘sticky’ unemployment at 4.1% (if you will), it’s presumable the RBA would be forced to either continue leaving rates on hold or maintain a disciplined approach with cuts, while that base of inflationary pressure remains stagnant.

Still, even with the jobs market, Australia’s disinflationary journey is still on track.

And, as for the jobs market, Jobs and Skills Australia predicts the RBA to see its ideal unemployment rate of 4.5% met sometime in the middle of the 2025 calendar year.

Notably, the agency also expects there to be two million more jobs in the economy by 2033 than there are now. So what has appeared to be a post-COVID-19 irregularity in the labour market wholemeal – coupled with Australia’s aging but elsewhere growing population – could be another ‘new normal.’

Just as long as TMI keeps coming down.

SEK last traded at $24.62 per share.

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The stapled-on Aussie telecommunications heavyweight is teaming up with New York-listed Accenture to overhaul its operations with a greatly expanded AI focus.

The deal, first reported by the AFR and to be announced on Wednesday, will see Telstra spend up to $100M a year for the next seven years – through to 2031 at least – and may see “job losses across the business” through the transition.

(Telstra axed as many as 2,800 positions in 2024 as it made cost-cutting changes.)

Telstra has been using AI through some of its systems already, including in-house programming like its “Ask Telstra” bot and “one sentence summary” FAQ web pages.

The idea behind the seven-year, $700M Telstra-Accenture team-up is to “rapidly scale” the AI systems already in place as well as formally introduce new and existing programs to contact centres and stores. Some staff will eventually be re-trained.

Accenture will also be tasked with formulating next steps for Telstra in the tech space.

This major rollout has been building for some time: Telstra became the first Oz company to join UNESCO’s Business Council to “promote ethical AI” late last October.

Last year, new Telstra CEO Vicki Brady pinpointed AI as one key domain she wanted the company to excel in moving forward. Though Telstra’s PR has yet to say anything regarding this new push today, the staple telco did recently declare it was aiming to be “an AI-fuelled organisation” with its next moves.

Telstra’s product and technology executive Kim Krogh Anderson has similarly been bullish on the tech: “[AI] can really shift the dial when it comes to helping our teams provide quicker, more effective, and more personalised interactions.”

The Aussie telco giant also picked up 21,000 Microsoft Copilot AI licences in mid-2024.

Microsoft returned the favour by investing in Telstra’s Intercity Fibre Network.

TLS opened Wednesday trade up 0.49%, to $4.07, after the news.

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Telstra owned 35% of Foxtel while News Corp had the other 65%; all is going in the sale.

“This agreement is a victory for News Corp shareholders, DAZN, and sports fans in Australia and around the world,” News Corp CEO Robert Thomson said today.

Today’s streaming sale news has been some time coming, with the AFR reporting back in November that DAZN had been sniffing around the Aussie pay TV platform.

The 65% stake in Foxtel owned by News Corp has been quietly for sale since August; there has been “third-party interest” in the chunk for as long as six months, with DAZN the most interested party through that whole period.

Platinum Equity, an L.A. asset management firm, was in the race for a time too.

Before this sale, there was a time when News Corp had pondered floating Foxtel, though that possibility was shelved in 2021 after tepid interest.

The DAZN buy-up gives the British powerhouse a suite of sporting staples Down Under including cricket, rugby league, AFL, and more. Also included in the pay-TV deal is Kayo Sports, the digital arm established in 2018.

Foxtel’s biggest selling point is its 1.4 million cable customers – all paying – and 3.2 million streaming subscribers that bring in US$1.9B in revenue together.

DAZN will also pick up Foxtel’s considerable $777 million in owing debts.

On the expansion, DAZN cofounder and CEO Shay Segev said it was particularly exciting because Australians are so invested in their sporting leagues and global games.

“Australians watch more sport than any other country in the world, which makes this deal an incredibly exciting opportunity for DAZN to enter a key market, marking another step in our long-term strategy to become the global home of sport,” the businessman behind DAZN’s rise to power said on Monday.

News Corp barely moved on the news early on Monday; company shares opened on December 23 selling at $49.64, up around 1% after the sale.

Telstra similarly stayed relatively still, up to $4 a share early today.

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The deal – expected to net more than $400 million in annual revenue for Ventia – will involve honing the delivery of design, construction, and maintenance of infrastructure, including lifecycle management across Australia and fixed network services for Telstra’s digital infrastructure facilities.

Additionally, Ventia will be involved in the designing and construction of asset relocation and commercial works, as well as the continuation of some services related to network design and construction.

Wideband, optical fibre, data, IP networks, and wireless plans are all included in the deal.

Ventia CEO and Managing Director, Dean Banks, said the deal would build on an already strong business relationship with the telecommunications giant.

“We are proud to have been a trusted partner to Telstra for nearly 30 years and we are excited to expand our partnership to support their strategic goals,” he said.

Existing contracts between the two companies are set to expire in December, and works under the new contract will begin in early 2025.

Ventia has been trading at $3.45.

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The move – first reported by the AFR – is perhaps fair to call unsurprising.

Behind every M&A story, which are often treated with keen interest due to the large sums of money they tend to involve, is really just a story of vulture and prey.

And in an economy where business insolvencies are still heightened after the pandemic and its discontents, Telstra has clearly seen a quick and easy way to expand its overall value offering.

(Consider that a $140M deal is a fairly small box of chips for Telstra, a stock which commands a capitalisation nearly $46B.)

And then one can ask whether or not this wouldn’t have happened anyway, regardless of macro – Boost Mobile, when Googled, advertises foremost its exposure to Telstra’s network.

Boost, for trivia’s sake, has an international footprint despite its Aus founder’s roots – the company was once tied up with Sprint, a U.S. telco, which ditched Boost in 2021.

Boost’s flagship product, or that which it’s most keen to advertise to any retail punters searching for the company, is prepaid mobile SIM plans.

One deal offers 265GB a year for $300 – which, compared to other telco products, isn’t exactly the world’s most compelling deal.

(At least in the eyes of this finance journalist who works from home and uses a hotspot for a modem – increasingly common, even as wireless routers long ago abandoned landline connectivity.)

Because Boost is private, there’s no way to publicly know for sure how its sales and revenue is going – but the very fact of a takeover deal is proof of a company perceiving more sense in letting Telstra take over than persisting down a path on its own.

Australian website Product Review could, perhaps, be useful in ascertaining what pushed Boost over the brink into Telstra’s arms – but across 1,550 reviews, Boost mobile’s overall five-star-rating is two stars.

According to Product Review, 73% of customer reviews of Boost products have been negative, with many users perceiving the SIM set-up process as burdensome.

Boost was also getting a payout from Telstra for every prepaid SIM recharge made (using its networks via Boost), but if Product Reviews are anything to go by, that might not be the world’s most lucrative commission deal.

Again, it’s hard to know – but with 1M reported users, it’s not hard to see why Telstra snatched up the company that’s thoroughly on its radar.

As of 2.50pm Sydney time on Monday, Telstra hadn’t issued an announcement to the market.

TLS last traded at $3.95/sh.

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Of course, maximising shareholder value is also a constituent of the company’s rationale – which is handy, seeing as share buybacks allow a company to push its own share price up.

At this stage, ABB is set to commencing buying back its shares off the market after it realises its HY25 results in February CY2025.

There is no hard figure yet on how many shares will be bought – but the company reported on Wednesday it will depend on the prevailing share price; “market conditions,” future CapEx obligations, and “unforeseen circumstances.”

There was at least one wet blanket clause tacked on at the very bottom of the company’s announcement: “There can be no certainty that Aussie will repurchase any or all of the shares announced under the buyback.”

Apart from that, a 3.5%+ jump in the company’s share price in arvo trades on Wednesday Sydney time suggests a positive investor reaction to news of the plan. The buyback does not need shareholder approval.

Its debt obligations are also a key part of the company’s rationale.

“As at 30 June 2024, Aussie had net debt of $138.0m1, representing net leverage of 1.1×2 FY24 EBITDA,” ABB wrote on Wednesday.

“Since this date, Aussie has sold its residual stake in Superloop for gross pre-tax proceeds of $99.8m, representing a gain on sale of $42.7M.”

ABB last traded at $3.72/sh.

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The smallcap communication stock – and a unique company as far as Australia goes, given it’s a local video game developer – has well and truly missed expectations, leading to the landslide sell-off today.

The stock first landed on radars when it teamed up for more content with the creators behind ‘Dumb Ways to Die,’ a well known YouTube kids video. If you’re a parent, you probably have the tune in your head right now.

But that was then, and this is now. (More recently, Playside picked up rights to create a Game of Thrones game.)

The company’s update with FY25 guidance released on Wednesday expects FY25 earnings to be a maximum of A$5M. In fact, its range is “$0M – $5M.”

In FY24, earnings came in at $17.5M – so we’re not talking sheep stations here anyway, but, the Aussie company managed to eke out a space for itself in the crossroads between national pride and nostalgia.

Whether it can remain there, only time will tell.

“The last eighteen months in the industry have been marked by a period of substantial and persistent layoffs, which impacted the availability of opportunities for the Company’s Work for Hire business,” the company wrote on Wednesday.

(For a rundown on Work for Hire, read this here.)

“While management is proud to have operated profitably and grown the Company’s cash balance during this time, the majority of the Company’s recent Work for Hire contract signings consisted of extensions and expansions to existing work,” Playside further elaborated.

Some HotCopper users were happy Playside appears to be continuing its expansion push, but suggested perhaps people wanted a more cash-conservative approach.

“PlaySide will also commence a global marketing campaign to promote the Game of Thrones real-time strategy game, which (along with being a considerable investment in its own right) is a critical milestone in building anticipation for the title,” the company wrote on Wednesday of its latest sensational asset.

PLY last traded at 49cps.

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Tech stocks included in the suspension were Bluechiip Ltd (ASX: BCT), Vection Technologies Ltd (ASX:VR1), and Vinyl Group Ltd (ASX:VNL) – with this coming only one day after the latter company informed investors it has snaffled a takeover of UK-based music platform Serenade.

In communication services, there was Sportshero Ltd (ASX:SHO), while healthcare was represented by Chimeric Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:CHM).

The consumer cyclical sector saw two companies suspended Site Group International Ltd (ASX:SIT) and Sprintex Ltd (ASX:SIX), while consumer defensive had three: Prestal Holdings Ltd (ASX:PTL), Wide Open Agriculture (ASX:WOA), and Yowie Group Ltd (ASX:YOW).

Unsurprisingly, the dominant energy sector was also represented, with Eden Innovations Ltd (ASX:EDE), Intra Energy Corporation Ltd (ASX:IEC), Neurizer Ltd (ASX:NRZ), Pure Hydrogen Corporation Ltd (ASX:PH2), and Whitebark Energy Ltd (ASX:WBE).

And of course, basic materials, which headed up the biggest group: Classic Minerals Ltd (ASX:CLZ), European Lithium Ltd (ASX:EUR), DGR Global Ltd (ASX:DGR), First Graphene Ltd (ASX:FGR), Foresta Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:FGH), Indiana Resources Ltd (ASX:IDA), Newfield Resources Ltd (ASX:NWF), Reedy Lagoon Corporation Ltd (ASX:RLC), Savannah Goldfields Ltd (ASX:SVG), Tasman Resources Ltd (ASX:TAS), and Thor Energy Plc (ASX:THR).

Suspensions can be placed on a company at its own request or be instated by the bourse itself – in the latter case, often due to a compulsory acquisition, non-compliance with listing rules, a failure to lodge documents, or the non-payment of annual listing fees.

In its statement released today, the ASX told companies they would be ‘suspended from quotation under Listing Rule 17.5 from the commencement of trading today, Tuesday, 1 October 2024, for not lodging the relevant periodic report by the due date’.

It added that if the report in question was lodged between the closure of the market announcements office on Monday (September 30) and the suspension being imposed, securities would be reinstated the trading day which followed the imposition.

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Central to the deal is uWorkin’s back-end technology, which is set to help recruiters by enhancing the job listing and management process, while also helping job seekers at the other end, by making the application experience easier.

The partnership is a boon to Gumtree, given the importance of job advertising to its classifieds business.

MKT Group CEO and Gumtree Managing Director Tommy Logtenberg said the partnership with uWorkin will help build the Company’s customer base of recruiters and candidates across metropolitan and regional areas.

“We recognise that to grow market share we need to invest in systems that deliver the bestoutcomes for our customer base,” he said.

“Following the strong demand for better technology solutions in the recruitment space, Gumtree has decided to partner with uWorkin to improve and streamline the recruitment processes for its main clients.

“By streamlining the advertising, reply and vetting processes, recruiters will be better able tomeet their employment needs, effectively manage candidates and importantly better matchcandidates with jobs.

“We are confident that with the new technology and process improvements, Gumtree will see a major uplift in job listings, with the overall customer experience improving.”

The integration of uWorkin’s technology into Gumtree’s job advertising platform is set for completion by December 2024.

The Market Ltd has been trading at 15 cents.

SKS announced back in July that it had secured a $90 million contract to build the data centre, which is located in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

The extension relates to all aspects of fit out for the centre, including electrical fit out of office and administration areas, installation and testing of equipment, whip cabling work to connect the main power supply to electrical equipment, and all work related to submains, cable support systems and general power and communication cabling.

The company said the awarding of this project was indicative of its desire to gain a name in the profitable data centre market in Australia – with the development of such infrastructure set to reach a value of $7.7 billion by 2029, and SKS has already secured a total of $170 million in combined work in this sector since FY22.

Chief Executive Officer, Matthew Jinks, said the company was seeking to continue building its profile in this space.

“In a relatively short time, SKS Technologies has won and delivered a number of large data centre project works, generating a reputation as a preferred supplier of electrical and communications solutions to the major companies developing data centre infrastructure in Australia,” he said.

“While the business achieved an exceptional operational performance and record financial results in FY24, the Board and management remain focused on the excellent execution of every project, be it large or small, consolidating the operating framework to appropriately support the new levels of contract wins and delivery.

“With the exemplary FY24 financial results, the Board remains comfortable that the currentworking capital position can continue to support the current activity of the business.”

Shares in SKS have risen on the news, and at 11:30 AEST, they were trading at $1.50 – a rise of 7.94% since the market opened.

Ship making business Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) said that its revenue had dropped by 7% to $1.47 billion for the 2024 fiscal year (from approximately $1.59 billion in FY23).

The company’s underlying EBIT came in at $58.9 million, with this factoring in a land sale worth $54.4 million and the one-off impact of costs ($56.8 million) related to legal costs and fines from the Department of Justice (DoJ).

Austal also held back its dividend for FY24.

TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX:TPG) reported that its profits had slumped 40% to $29 million in the half year to June 30 (from $48 million in the same period last year), while its revenue came in flat at $2.71 billion.

In a bid to reduce costs – which had increased as a result of increased spending on network and technology capability, plus financing for a new tower lease agreement and higher interest rates – the company has decided to cut 120 jobs.

TPG Telecom’s interim dividend (87% franked) was declared at 9.0 cents per share, the same as this time last year.

Downer Edi Ltd (ASX:DOW) said its net profit had lifted almost 21% to $210 million in FY24 (from $174 million), while its earnings figure (EBITDA) had also increased by nearly 18% to $380.8 million.

The integrated services company said the fiscal year 2024 had yielded several achievements, including the return of the Utilities business to profitability and improved margingrowth in the Facilities business.

The company’s final dividend increased to 11 cents, from 8 cents in FY23.

By 12:36 AEST, all three companies had seen their shares rise. Downer shares were trading at $5.62 (a rise of 17.47% since the market opened), while TPG was trading 7.53% higher at $4.93, and Austal shares were 1.10% higher at $2.31.

Wesfarmers – which owns Bunnings, Kmart, Officeworks, among other segments – said its statutory net profit had grown 3.7 per cent in the 2024 fiscal year to a figure of $2.56 billion compared to the same time last year.

Its revenue had also seen a slight increase of 1.5% to $44.19 billion in FY24 – largely on-target with expectations – and its dividend was raised to $1.98 fully franked, on the basis of this growth.

In terms of the separate sectors, Bunnings’ revenues had grown in FY24 by 2.3% to $18.97 billion, Kmart was up 4.4% to $11.11 billion, Officeworks was also higher by 2.3% for $3.43 billion, Wesfarmers Chemicals Energy and Fertilisers (CEF) had fallen by 16.9% to $2.75 billion, Industrial and Safety was up 1.5% to $2.02 billion, Wesfarmers Health had risen 5.9% to $5.62 billion, and Catch revenues had fallen 35.9% to $227 million.

Meanwhile, Southern Cross Media – which owns more than 99 radio stations under the brands Triple M and Hit, and broadcasts 96 free to air TV signals across regional Australia – said its revenue had dropped 1% to $499.4 million for the year, down 1% on FY23, while underlying EBITDA had also fallen by 14% to $66.2 million.

Underlying NPAT for the media group had also taken a hit – being 49% down at $11.2 million (from $21.9 million in FY23).

In addition to this, Southern Cross had cancelled its final dividend for the year, and said it was in active negotiations for the sale of its ‘non-core’ television assets.

Finally, Qantas said its statutory profit after tax had fallen 28.3% in FY24 to $1.25 billion (from $1.74 billion in FY23), despite a rise of 10.7% in revenue and other income to $21.94 billion during the same period.

Qantas did not declare or paid any dividends during the fiscal year 2024, although it said statutory earns per share were at 75.9 cents on June 30 2024, down from 96 cents the previous year.

The airliner also said profits were likely to be weak in the future, based on softening demand for travel following previous peaks.

Qantas shares fell 1.74% on the news (to $6.21) at 11:14 AEST. At the same time, Wesfarmers shares were down 3.13% (to $74.78), while Southern Cross Media shares traded higher by 1.89% (to 54 cents).

At the same time, the company’s share price plunged by more than 16 percent in early trading, sitting at $2.99 cents at 11:46 AEDT, on news that its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) had been revised to a range of between $125 million and $135 million for the 2025 Financial Year.

This was a shift from the initial predicted range of $135 million to $145 million.

Aussie said Buddy would focus in particular at the ‘value-seeking’ part of the NBN (national broadband network) market in Australia as a challenger brand, focusing on targeting 4 million households within this market.

The brand’s set up means that customers will be able to use the Buddy Telco app, website and Live Chat to manage their connection, upgrades, outages and usage, and services will be offered on a self-service basis alone.

The latter aspect will aim to leverage Aussie’s experience in automation, with machine learning for network and technical support.

Aussie Broadband Group Managing Director Phillip Britt said the company would be a welcome addition to the market.

“Aussie is thrilled to launch Buddy Telco, a truly digital-first offering that provides value andease of use to the consumer,” he said.

“Our strategic investment in Buddy allows the Group to compete in both the premium andvalue-led broadband sectors, further diversifying the markets we operate in.

“We look forward to continuing to change the game through Buddy’s success.”

The company said in May this year it “would not be increasing prices in July” while it updated its consumer and small business prepaid mobile plans to remove an annual review linked to CPI data.

“In making these price changes, Telstra has balanced cost of living pressures it knows some of its customers are experiencing, with its need to continue to invest to manage technology evolution and continued strong customer demand on its mobile network,” the company wrote on Tuesday.

However, that situation has changed.

The company reported in the five years to July 2024, network traffic on Telstra’s network has increased by 3.5x and increases by 20% per annum. As a result, Telstra says it’s spent $1.3B on system upgrades through FY24 alone.

All in all, the company painted itself as being forced into raising costs on Tuesday. To be fair, an increase of $4 per month is an extra $50 per year – not enough to break the bank but probably not the most desirable outcome for those on the customer end of things already struggling.

To that end, the company said it will keep prices the same for some concession-facing products, including starter kits likely the purview of students and/or new arrivals into the country.

TLS last traded at $3.65. Its 1Y returns are down -14.3%.

According to the arrangement, Genus will provide distribution and transmission overhead maintenance services across the SWIS (South West Interconnecting System) electricity network, spanning from northern towns like Kalbarri to Kalgoorlie in the east and Albany in the state’s south – a system relied upon by 2.3 million customers.

In the first year, the works will include pole replacements, reconductoring, cross arm and cross beam replacements, defect repairs, and line removal.

Genus Managing Director David Riches welcomed the opportunity to extend the company’s deep relationship with Western Power.

“We are delighted to extend our long relationship to help maintain strong and reliable electricity infrastructure for Western Power and its customers,” he said.

Western Power Executive Manager Asset Operations Zane Christmas said the work program would be fundamental to the company’s later plans for Western Australia.

“Western Power looks forward to continuing its strong working relationship with Genus,” he said.

“This work and additional capacity will help ensure the delivery of existing and future work programs.”

Genus has been trading at $1.95