📈 Aussie teens missing out on millions in super | Star casino faces uncertain future

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The Big Picture

• Australian under-18s missing out on $411 million in super. Around 156,000 teenage workers are missing out on superannuation due to a law that excludes under-18s working less than 30 hours a week for a single employer. New Super Members Council modelling has found the gap costs young Australians $411 million annually. This comes as Australia’s total superannuation assets increased by 6.6% over the most recent quarter reaching $4.8 trillion. (ABC | Capital Brief)
  
  

• Australian grocery prices rise 8.5% in past 16 months. Research by Canstar found the same basket of groceries at Woolworths cost 8.5% more in July 2026 than in March 2025, as wages grew of just 3.3% in the same period. Academics argue a lack of supermarket competition is costing Australians around 10% more at the checkout compared to markets like the UK, where Tesco's grocery prices actually fell 2.7% over the past year. (ABC)
  
  

• US and Iran restart exchanging strikes. The US has struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz in the first known attack on Iran since late July. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at US bases in the Middle East. Donald Trump responded by posting AI-generated videos on Truth Social captioned "Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!" (BBC)
  
  

• Big Tech profits jump by $224 billion on AI investments. Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia and Microsoft collectively booked more than $224 billion (US$160 billion) in paper profits last quarter from rising valuations of their stakes in other AI companies. The rise was turbocharged by the SpaceX IPO, in which Alphabet and Nvidia both hold stakes, with Alphabet's "other income" more than doubling to US$97.9 billion and Amazon's more than tripling to US$53.4 billion. (FT)
  

• Australian telehealth clinic prescribes Ozempic to patient with anorexia history. An Australian woman with a history of anorexia was prescribed a GLP-1 weight-loss drug through a telehealth clinic without being screened for an eating disorder. The incident has prompted calls for urgent regulation of online prescribing with experts reporting inadequate screening is widespread. Australia currently has no endorsed national standards for virtual care, with new guidelines not expected until late 2027. (ABC)

Companies in the news

• Star Entertainment reports $307 million loss as future remains uncertain. The full-year loss coupled with a possible $400 million AUSTRAC fine over anti-money laundering breaches has auditors worried about the company's ability to continue. Chairman Soo Kim insisted the casino group had "stabilised" and had enough cash to meet any penalty. Star had previously told the Federal Court that a fine of more than $100 million would make it difficult to keep operating. (AFR)
  
  

• Bathla Group faces immediate collapse without cash injection. The administrator of debt-ridden property developer Bathla Group has warned the business will not survive past Thursday unless it secures $20 million in urgent funding to pay its 350 staff. Bathla went into administration last week with debts exceeding $3.2 billion with the NSW government declining to provide a lifeline. The collapse would leave more than 200 development projects across Sydney in limbo. (ABC)
  
  

• Monash IVF profits fall 41% after embryo mix-up. Monash IVF posted a net profit of $16.1 million for the year, after two high-profile embryo mix-up incidents last year damaged the fertility group's reputation. Despite missing earnings guidance, shares rose almost 4% after the company forecast higher earnings in the year ahead. Monash has appointed former Nine Entertainment chair Catherine West to bolster governance. (AFR)
  
  

• BYD shares fall as fierce competition squeezes profit. The world’s leading electric vehicle maker saw shares fall nearly 5% after the company reported a 20.5% decline in first-half net profit. Strong domestic competition, sluggish Chinese demand and rising commodity and chip costs have squeezed margins for BYD. (CNBC)
  
  

• PetroChina profits surge on the back of Iran war. China's largest oil and gas company, reported first-half profit US$15.4 billion, up 22%, as the US-Iran war drove global energy prices higher and lifted crude oil revenue despite falling demand. (Bloomberg)

Legendary fund manager Bill Ackman is joining FinFest 2026. Are you?

Yep, you read that right. Founder of Pershing Square Capital Bill Ackman will sit down with Bryce and Ren for an exclusive pre-recorded conversation to be aired at FinFest 2026.

If you want to hear Bill unpack all things markets, investing and the opportunties he’s seeing in the world, then this is your chance to see it.

Who knows Ren may even Boost Bill’s Budget while they’re at it.

Man posed as NFL player to scam women out of $1.8 million on dating apps

Daejon Love, 35, has been arrested by the FBI after allegedly posing as a San Francisco 49ers player on dating apps to scam 26 women across multiple US states out of a combined $1.8 million (US$1.3 million) over four years.

Love allegedly created fake investment opportunities, presented one of his friends as his investment adviser and convinced victims he wanted to "build wealth and a future together" before blocking them when they ran out of money or asked too many questions. The FBI believes there are many more victims beyond the 26 identified so far. (The Guardian)

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The Picks and Shovels Play on Data Centres

Henry Jennings from Marcus Today and Julia Weng from Paradise Investments put eight stocks voted by the Equity Mates Facebook Discussion group under the microscope on a recent episode of Buy or Sell. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

NextDC, Goodman Group, Macquarie Technology are all familiar names for people trying to get exposure to data centres on the ASX. But building and owning data centres requires enormous capital expenditure, and that is before a single server is switched on.

Henry Jennings flagged a different way to play the theme on a recent episode of Buy or Sell. The electricians fitting out the data centres.

SKS Technologies (ASX: SKS) is a family-founded electrical and mechanical services business that has moved aggressively into data centre fit-outs. In its most recent result, revenue was up 33% and pre-tax profit was up 89%. Henry’s argument is that building the data centre is a much better business than owning it. You get the growth without the capital intensity.

A similar business is Tasmea (ASX: TEA), another electrical contractor now focused on data centres, battery storage and infrastructure. It has grown partly through acquisitions, which has added some debt to the balance sheet, but it sits in the same structural tailwind.

Henry thinks these are the picks and shovels of the data centre boom. While the market focuses on who owns the warehouse, these are the businesses going in with the tools to build everything out.

• We chat with the founder of Strawman Andrew Page on today’s episode of Equity Mates Investing. Strawman is one of Australia’s leading online private network for self-directed investors, they chat all things from Small caps to Bitcoin. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

• & on Get Started Investing Jess chats with Head of Technical Services from MLC Jen Mills about superannuation. They walk through the things that matter most about your super, why it’s worth checking your account today and how small changes could leave you with tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars more by retirement. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)