HV Engineer

NextDC slashes earnings forecast, triggering 40pc share plunge. Updated Oct 21, 2026 - 1.26pm, first published at 9.33am Craig Scroggie's NextDC has been forced to slash its earnings guidance by more than a third after community backlash caused delays in connecting the company's flagship data centre to power networks, triggering a 40 per cent rout in its shares. The data centre group's shares resumed on Wednesday at $5.30, having last traded at $9.18 on Friday before entering a trading halt pending an update on the financial consequences of energy connection delays at its M3 data centre in the Melbourne suburb of West Footscray.

SpaceX Q3 earnings smash expectations as AI revenue soars. Power Problems NextDC shares plummet 40% after slashing revenue guidance. 4:39pm today More news: Data centre builder NextDC's shares plummeted at the open after the company confirmed its M3 facility in Melbourne faces power delays amid community opposition. The company has also paused work on all uncontracted projects and potential land purchases, and is considering selling landholdings to reduce the risk of breaching debt covenants. At 10:08am AEDT, NextDC shares had fallen 40% to $5.51 per share. Citi analyst Siraj Ahmed described the fallout in a note to clients: "Earnings impact much higher than expected". Ahmed also noted that NextDC "is reducing capex on future land acquisitions and discretionary capex, which should help with financial covenants however it does put [NextDC] in a competitively weaker position from a medium-term perspective". 2:55pm today NextDC cuts FY27 guidance after power delays at Melbourne site. The news: Data centre operator NextDC has slashed its full-year revenue, earnings and capital expenditure guidance following power delays to its M3 site in Melbourne. The numbers: NextDC has revised down its FY27 net revenue guidance, excluding the contracts affected by the M3 delays, from $615-640 million to $475-500 million. Underlying EBITDA guidance, excluding the M3 contracts, has been lowered from $385-410 million to $245-265 million. Full-year capex guidance has been cut from $5.25-$5.75 billion to $4.5-5 billion. The context: NextDC said the revised guidance reflects delays to electricity network works by Jemena Electricity, which will defer the next increase in grid supply to M3 to FY28. This will push back the delivery and billing of contracted capacity at the site. Jemena has suspended parts of the network works due to community and stakeholder opposition and to the "absence of local council consent", which is pending further consultation. The Victorian government's planning decision on development of stages six and seven of M3 is now expected after the Victorian state election on 28 November 2026. What they said: "We have taken the affected M3 contracts out of FY27 guidance until we can reliably estimate their contribution," said NextDC chief executive Craig Scroggie. "The August guidance included approximately $140 million of each of net revenue and underlying EBITDA from those contracts. The timing and scale of their contribution remain uncertain." The source: ASX Get Letter of Intent in your inbox.

What would a Firmus legal battle look like? Market Open ASX lifts at the open despite tech drag as NextDC weighs. 44 minutes ago More news: The Australia sharemarket opened higher as gains across consumer discretionary and telecommunications stocks pushed the broader market index upwards. This followed a stronger lead on Wall Street, where investors rotated towards defensive sectors overnight. The benchmark ASX 200 was up by 7.4 points, or 0.08%, to 8,807 at 10:57am AEDT. Six of the 11 sectoral indices opened in the green. Discretionary (+1.2%) was the strongest performing sector at the open, supported by a lift in Aristocrat Leisure (+1.2%), The Lottery Corporation (+1%), Light & Wonder (+0.8%) and Breville Group (+1%). Ingenia Communities (+9.9%), Austal (+7.9%), Generation Development (+6.8%), Orora (+6.1%) and Domino's Pizza (+5.4%) were among the best performing stocks at the open. Elsewhere, tech (-5.1%) was the weakest performing sector, weighed down by NextDC (-43%) after slashing its full-year revenue from $615 million and 640 million to $475 million and $500 million due to power delays at its Melbourne site. PDI Gold (-8.1%), Zip (-6.9%), Sunrise Energy (-6.8%), Elsight (-6.1%) and Reliance Worldwide (-6%) were also among the worst performing stocks across the ASX 200. 2:13pm today Australian shares to open higher as healthcare leads Wall St gains. The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open higher after Wall Street ended mixed overnight as investors rotated into defensive stocks, including healthcare, while technology shares lagged following the previous session's rebound. The numbers (Updated at 7:40am AEDT): * ASX futures: up 32 points to 8,866 points * Wall Street: Dow Jones up 1.02%, S&P 500 up 0.28%, Nasdaq down 0.02% * Europe: FTSE 100 down 0.29%, CAC 40 down 0.38%, DAX down 0.06% * Spot gold: down 0.39% to USD4,124 per ounce * Oil prices: Brent down 0.44% to USD109.06 a barrel, US WTI down 0.35% to USD98.22/bbl * AUD: up 0.34% to 70.00 US cents * Bitcoin: up 1.07% to USD82,731. The context: The Dow rose 1.02% on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 gained 0.28% and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edged 0.02% lower. Trading was subdued across heavyweight technology stocks following Monday's rebound from last week's sell off, as investors continue to weigh concerns over elevated spending and financing costs associated with AI developments. Declines in megacap stocks weighed on the communication services sector, with Meta, Netflix and Alphabet among its weakest performers. Healthcare led gains across the S&P 500's 11 major sectors, reaching a record high on Tuesday. Eli Lilly helped lift the benchmark alongside Dow components UnitedHealth, Merck & Co, Johnson & Johnson and Amgen. Vaccine maker Moderna also climbed to its highest level since 2022, according to Reuters. Defensive sectors, including real estate and utilities also outperformed, alongside the small-cap Russell 2000 index. Elsewhere, oil prices settled lower after touching a five-month high, as traders weighed a meeting between Iran's president and Pakistan's army chief, a key mediator in US-Iran negotiations, against continued Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure and reports of attacks on vessels in the Gulf. Get Letter of Intent in your inbox.