☕️Shifting Pitch

Good morning.

In a promotional video for Firmus from 2022, co-CEO Oliver Curtis spells out why he’s so excited about the company’s emerging sustainability credentials, and why it will win in the highly competitive world of data centres.

The video, viewed by Capital Brief but no longer publicly available, is a taste of how the company was positioning itself before becoming the most closely-watched private company in the country ahead of a blockbuster IPO anticipated later this year. In 2022, its aspirational energy efficiencies were front and centre as it ditched its Bitcoin mining business and went all in on data centres.

But as those sustainability claims have changed in the years since, refined from nebulous promotion to quantifiable measures, doubts have emerged and some investors are asking if those original claims stacked up, and even if they did whether Firmus’ competitive advantage is narrowing.

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Market movers

Shares in investment platform Netwealth surged on Wednesday after the company reported low single-digit beats across revenue, EBITDA, profit before tax and dividend for the December half.

The quick sync

• Australia risks strategic irrelevance if it fails to urgently compete for a share of the USD650b global AI infrastructure boom reshaping digital power, writes Ian Langford. (Capital Brief)

• Queensland's premier is urging a calm, bipartisan immigration debate, but the federal opposition is moving in the opposite direction. (Capital Brief)

• SGH has tabled a $15b "best and final" bid for BlueScope, but with the steelmaker's board in no rush, the standoff is far from resolved. (Capital Brief)

• Seek is selling out of Employment Hero after settling their legal fight, with the exit driven by fund economics rather than doubts about the business. (Capital Brief)

Trading floor

M&A

• CSL inks $100m deal with Eli Lilly for clazakizumab. (Capital Brief)

• BlueScope considers $15b takeover bid from SGH and Steel Dynamics. (Capital Brief) (Capital Brief)

• Southern Star Research buys Expecto to drive Asia expansion. (AFR)

• Superloop posts $5.1m profit, acquires Lynham Networks for $165m. (Capital Brief)

• XRG eyes Shell’s Northwest Shelf stake amid Japanese competition. (The Australian)

• Mayne Pharma's bid to sue a failed suitor for shareholder damages could permanently change the rules of Australian M&A. (Capital Brief) (Capital Brief)

• Blackstone lines up banks for $1b sale of Nucleus Networks. (AFR)

• Seek exits Employment Hero as growth funds face pressure for real returns. (Capital Brief)

• Glencore eyes more deals after Rio Tinto talks fail; FY25 earnings down 6%. (Capital Brief)

Capital Markets

• Spark NZ’s profit jumps 82% on better mobile performance and cost cuts. (Capital Brief)

• Iluka Resources swings to $288m loss on impairments and weak demand. (Capital Brief)

• Marimaca Copper launches $423m equity raise; Greenstone sells down. (AFR)

• Suncorp profit drops 76% on costly natural hazards. (Capital Brief)

• NAB profit hits $2.21b in record first quarter; shares rise 4%. (Capital Brief)

• Cerberus Capital eyes HSBC’s Australian loan book alongside other PE firms. (The Australian)

• Fletcher Building halves loss to NZD11m amid weak market conditions. (Capital Brief)

• Energy Bay launches $500m raise with backing from Skip and Grok. (AFR)

• Mirvac profit jumps to $319m on strong residential sales. (Capital Brief)

• Healius H1 loss deepens to $30.4m amid rising costs. (Capital Brief)

• Vicinity Centres profit jumps 64%, raises dividend. (Capital Brief)

• Macquarie crafts restructuring plan to steady Bingo’s lenders. (AFR)

• Lottery Corp H1 profit slips 1% to $173m as jackpots fall. (Capital Brief)

• Magellan profit drops 27% to $121m; dividend increased. (Capital Brief)

• Barrenjoey doubles profits, a bright spot for struggling Magellan Financial. (AFR)

• Netwealth interim profit climbs 19.9%; dividend increased. (Capital Brief)

• Me&u turns monthly profit and plans consumer app launch. (AFR)

• MA Financial, CMBI launch USD600m APAC credit fund. (Capital Brief)

• Dexus interim profit $348.5m; launches 10% buyback. (Capital Brief)

• Firmus’ energy-efficiency claims have evolved, raising investor doubts about its green edge. (Capital Brief)

• ASIC reviews advisers using lead generation to protect consumers. (Capital Brief)

• TechnologyOne upgrades FY26 profit guidance on AI-driven growth. (Capital Brief)

• Small businesses accuse Meta of crippling operations after unexplained account shutdowns. (AFR)

• Santos profit drops 35% on weak oil and gas prices. (Capital Brief)

• Capstone Copper shares slump on FY26 production and spending guidance. (Capital Brief)

• Australian wages rise 3.4% in year to December, meeting expectations. (Capital Brief)

• The Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix leaves Victoria for Adelaide after 30 years. (AFR)

• Telix seeks EU approval for TLX101-Px brain cancer imaging. (Capital Brief)

• Breakthrough Victoria scores 5x gain as Infleqtion lists on NYSE, keeping its stake. (Startup Daily)

• Brisbane Olympics construction at risk from worker shortage without policy changes. (AFR)

• Queensland premier calls for calm as opposition seeks migration cuts. (Capital Brief)

• BYD tops NVES carbon credits with 6.2m, legacy carmakers face fines. (AFR)

• Humain invests $3b in xAI, backing Saudi AI expansion. (Capital Brief)

• A $1t AI infrastructure race is underway, and Australia must decide whether to compete or rely on others. (Capital Brief)

• Australia's big banks are delivering record results, but with valuations at double their long-run average, analysts are questioning how much longer the rally can hold. (Capital Brief)

• Christine Lagarde to leave ECB before the end of her 8-year term. (FT)

• Lagarde's possible early ECB exit leaves investors pondering replacements. (Reuters)

• New York Times stock hits all-time high after Buffett’s blessing. (Bloomberg)

• Macron blasts social media’s free speech defence as ‘bull$**t’. (Bloomberg)

• Billionaire Leslie Wexner says he visited Epstein’s private island. (Bloomberg)

• AI adoption already hitting Irish graduate jobs, finance department says. (Reuters)

• Fed minutes: officials warn progress towards inflation goal will be ‘uneven’. (FT)(Bloomberg)(WSJ)(Reuters)

VC 

• Airtree reinvests in HotDoc via new fund amid Potentia-led majority deal. (Capital Brief)

• Konkrd uses AI to make Australia’s first fully autonomous health insurance sale. (Startup Daily)

People moves

• Tim Poole named independent chair of Endeavour Group. (Capital Brief)

• Greatland Resources COO Simon Tyrrell resigns; acting replacement named. (Capital Brief)

The watercooler