The IP Survives, The Customers Don't: Inside Stax's Rescue

Mal's calling in from a Bali sunrise mid-reset before Q4 hits — squirrels, banana trees, the lot — while Alex is back in Adelaide mopping up after cars got swept down a creek in the weekend's flash floods. The news doesn't take a holiday though, and this week's two deep dives bookend the AU retail distress cycle from both ends: Proud Poppy filed for voluntary administration one week ago, still insisting it's "business as usual," while Stax — which collapsed back in June — has just been bought out of receivership by the Pushas founders in an IP-only deal that leaves every pre-collapse customer order unfulfilled and unpaid.

• The RBA held the cash rate at 4.35% for the third time this year, and Mal reckons there's still another hike in it before Christmas.
• Frasers' hostile bid for Accent Group got messier, with a board resignation landing in the middle of an active ASIC insider trading probe.
• Playboy's Q2 results confirmed Honey Birdette is the standout of the portfolio — comps up 15%, gross margin up to 65.1%, and US stores hitting $1,500 a square foot.
• Proud Poppy entered voluntary administration one week ago, and the hosts flag the now-familiar pattern of over-expanded store footprints catching up with founders.
• Stax has been rescued out of receivership by the Pushas founders — but only the IP, not the liabilities or the unfulfilled orders.
• Brett Blundy's Lovisa tried to trademark rival brand HARLI + HARPA in the US to block its expansion — and lost.