The NEXTDC Ltd (ASX: NST) share price is in focus today after the company revised its FY27 guidance due to delays in increasing grid supply at its M3 Melbourne data centre. FY27 net revenue guidance has been cut to A$475–500 million, down from A$615–640 million, with underlying EBITDA also reduced.

What did NEXTDC report?

• FY27 net revenue guidance lowered to A$475–500 million, previously A$615–640 million
• FY27 underlying EBITDA guidance revised to A$245–265 million, from A$385–410 million
• FY27 capital expenditure guidance now A$4,500–5,000 million, reduced from A$5,250–5,750 million
• Liquidity at 30 September 2026: A$8,675 million (cash and undrawn facilities)
• Company remains in compliance with all financial covenants

What else do investors need to know?

Delays in electricity works by Jemena have pushed back the delivery and billing of contracted capacity at M3 Melbourne to FY28. This means revenue and earnings previously expected from these contracts are now excluded from NEXTDC’s FY27 outlook.

Construction of the M3 data halls is continuing, and the company remains engaged with both the affected customer and the community. Planning decisions on further M3 development (Stages 6 and 7) are now expected only after the Victorian State election in November 2026.

NEXTDC is reviewing its capital expenditure program, pausing new developments not backed by customer contracts, and considering the sale of development sites that aren’t needed soon.

What did NEXTDC management say?

CEO and Managing Director Craig Scroggie said:

Jemena has suspended parts of the network works required for the next increase in grid supply to M3 Melbourne. Jemena has attributed the suspension to community and stakeholder opposition to the works and to the absence of local council consent pending further consultation. On Jemena’s current indicative estimate, we expect that increase during FY28.

We have taken the affected M3 contracts out of FY27 guidance until we can reliably estimate their contribution. The August guidance included approximately A$140 million of each of net revenue and Underlying EBITDA from those contracts. The timing and scale of their contribution remain uncertain.

With M3 revenue deferred, we have paused projects not backed by customer contracts and put that capital behind the capacity our customers have already contracted. We have approximately A$8.7 billion of liquidity at 30 September 2026 and we are in compliance with our covenants.

What’s next for NEXTDC?

NEXTDC plans to update the market after a detailed review of its capital expenditure, with further announcements expected by the Annual General Meeting on 20 November 2026. The Board is also looking at ways to recycle capital, including possibly selling some development sites.

The company says its focus will be on delivering capacity for existing customer contracts and further community and stakeholder engagement around the M3 Melbourne site, especially as it works through planning and grid supply challenges.

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The post NEXTDC slashes FY27 guidance after M3 Melbourne power delay appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Laura Stewart has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips. This article was prepared with the assistance of Large Language Model (LLM) tools for the initial summary of the company announcement. Any content assisted by AI is subject to our robust human-in-the-loop quality control framework, involving thorough review, substantial editing, and fact-checking by our experienced writers and editors holding appropriate credentials. The Motley Fool Australia stands behind the work of our editorial team and takes ultimate responsibility for the content published by The Motley Fool Australia.

The SEEK Ltd (ASX: SEK) share price is in focus today after the company provided an update on its SEEK Growth Fund, with new arrangements aimed at boosting liquidity for investors and reducing SEEK’s stake in the Fund over time.

What did SEEK report?

• The SEEK Growth Fund enters Stage 2 from 1 November 2026 with revised terms approved by unitholders.
• Investments have been classified into Core Assets (valued at $1.25 billion) and Non-Core Assets ($499 million as of September 2026).
• New incentive arrangements mean the Fund Manager’s carried interest is only payable if at least $840 million of liquidity is made available to investors, including approximately $700 million for SEEK.
• Total management fees paid by SEEK to the Manager will drop to around $17 million per year, with $5 million in fees on SEEK-managed assets now removed.
• Since 2021, the Fund has delivered a 12% return on investment, with distributions representing 13% of invested capital.

What else do investors need to know?

Stage 2’s arrangements focus on maximising long-term value and providing substantial liquidity to SEEK and other Fund investors, mainly through potential near-term sales of assets valued at over $1 billion. The revised structure also aims for a disciplined approach, incentivising the Manager to deliver liquidity by setting a clear threshold tied to carried interest payouts.

SEEK will not contribute further capital to the Fund, aligning with its wider goal of gradually reducing its current 83.8% stake. The company also highlighted that future management fees are benchmarked to market rates, providing cost savings compared to the Fund’s earlier phase.

What did SEEK management say?

CEO and Managing Director Ian Narev said:

Our priority is, and has always been, to maximise the value of our investment in the Fund and receive liquidity over time. Since the Fund was established, it has delivered a 12% return on investment, with distributions representing 13% of invested capital, despite challenging macro conditions and valuation pressure across the sector. This performance has been underpinned by revenue growth across the portfolio, particularly among the HR SaaS investments. SEEK and the Fund remain fully aligned on these objectives, and we are confident the revised arrangements provide a pathway to near-term liquidity. Linking the Fund Manager’s incentives to returning capital to investors and establishing a clear liquidity threshold for carried interest, supports a disciplined approach to realising value for all investors. We believe this provides an enhanced framework to pursue strong investment outcomes while delivering meaningful liquidity to SEEK.

What’s next for SEEK?

Looking ahead, SEEK’s focus is on supporting and realising value from its Core Assets, which remain central to the Fund’s strategy of generating returns above 20% per annum. With no further capital injections planned, SEEK expects its ownership in the Fund to decline progressively as asset sales occur.

The company will keep evaluating its stake and participating in the evolving Fund arrangements, while continuing to manage key assets directly, including Zhaopin and JobAdder. Governance arrangements for the Fund remain unchanged.

SEEK share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, Seek shares have declined 54%, trailing the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which has declined 3% over the same period.

View Original Announcement

The post SEEK updates Growth Fund with new liquidity and fee arrangements appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Laura Stewart has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips. This article was prepared with the assistance of Large Language Model (LLM) tools for the initial summary of the company announcement. Any content assisted by AI is subject to our robust human-in-the-loop quality control framework, involving thorough review, substantial editing, and fact-checking by our experienced writers and editors holding appropriate credentials. The Motley Fool Australia stands behind the work of our editorial team and takes ultimate responsibility for the content published by The Motley Fool Australia.

Australia’s Age Pension is very generous and offers a number of positives, including protection against inflation. If I were relying on income, I’d rather receive payments from Argo Investments Ltd (ASX: ARG) and other ASX dividend stocks.

Argo Investments is one of Australia’s oldest and largest listed investment companies (LICs). It was founded in 1946 and has clearly succeeded with its targets.

It speaks volumes that cricketing legend Don Bradman joined the board in 1954 and served until 1984. Argo’s strategy has been steady, long-term investing, resulting in solid performance of the portfolio.

Let’s run through why the business is so appealing today.

Diversification

The job of an LIC is to invest in other shares/assets to generate investment returns.

Argo’s portfolio is focused on large ASX shares that enable the LIC to provide reliable fully-franked dividend income and capital growth.

For pleasing diversification, Argo has invested across an array of ASX shares.

At the end of September 2026, the businesses that were a weighting of more than 3% in the Argo portfolio, included BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG), Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ), Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL), Santos Ltd (ASX: STO), Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS), National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB), and Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (ASX: ALL).

As you can see, it’s many of the ASX’s leading blue chips.

Its performance has been solid – at 30 June 2026, its pre-tax net tangible assets (NTA) after costs was stronger than the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index (ASX: XJOA) over the prior six months, 12 months, three years, and five years.

That solid performance has been good enough for the ASX dividend stock to pay good passive income over the last few years.  

Rising dividends

After a difficult start to the 2020s following COVID-19 impacts, the LIC increased its payout in FY22 and FY23, maintained the payout in FY24, grew it in FY25, and hiked again in FY26.

Pleasingly, the company has guided that it plans to hike the dividend again in FY27 to 40 cents per share with four quarterly dividends of 10 cents per share.

The FY27 payout would represent a year-over-year increase of 3.9%, so it essentially matches the current elevated rate of inflation.

Good dividend yield

Argo can provide investors with a solid dividend yield, which I think is appealing. I’d rather have a mixture of yield and long-term growth rather than a big yield and no growth (or declines).

At the time of writing, and based on the guided annual dividend of 40 cents per share, it translates into a forward dividend yield of 4.4% excluding franking credits and 6.3% including franking credits.

This is much more appealing passive income than what’s on offer from Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS).

How much of the ASX dividend stock it would take to match the Australian Age Pension

Currently, the maximum annualised Age Pension that a single person can receive is approximately $32,180.

To receive that much from Argo in relation to its FY27 dividend, an investor would need to buy 80,450 shares. Considering (at the time of writing) it’s trading at a discount of 17% to its pre-tax net tangible assets (NTA) at 16 October 2026, I think it’s a good time to buy. But, I’d also want to invest in other ASX dividend stocks too for dividend diversification.

The post 80,450 shares of this ASX dividend stock pays an income equal to the Age Pension appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended CSL, Macquarie Group, and Wesfarmers. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Telstra Group. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended BHP Group, CSL, Macquarie Group, and Wesfarmers. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.