Mobile phone, computer, video game and small appliance sales have pushed up the profit for electronics giant JB Hi-Fi, which recorded more than $6 billion in sales over six months.

But the company says it remains concerned about future earnings due to a high level of uncertainty in the retail market. 

The company released its half-yearly results to the Australian stock exchange on Monday, revealing sales rose 7.3 per cent during the period to deliver the company a net profit of $305.8 million. 

The firm will issue shareholders a dividend of $2.10, up by more than 23 per cent after it raised its payout ratio. 

JB Hi-Fi’s Australian operations represented the biggest share of the company’s revenue, rising 6.3 per cent between July and December to reach $4.12 billion. 

Continued high demand for consumer electronics, such as smartphones and fitness gadgets, drove the increase, and online sales rose by 11.2 per cent to make up 18.4 per cent of all sales. 

Appliance sales, led by cooking, refrigeration, laundry and floor care devices, boosted revenue for The Good Guys by 4.1 per cent, the company revealed, to reach $1.58 billion.  

Sales at JB Hi-Fi’s New Zealand operations also rose by 32.6 per cent to reach $NZD268.6 million, although sales growth at recently acquired home appliance company e&s fell by 4.6 per cent. 

The results built on momentum created during the previous financial year, JB Hi-Fi chief executive Nick Wells said, but the company remained concerned about retail spending trends in a tight economy. 

“Whilst we are pleased to see sales growth continue in January in JB Hi-Fi and The Good Guys, cycling strong sales in the prior year, we remain cautious given the uncertainty in the retail market and the continued competitive activity,” he said. 

“We are grateful to our over 16,000 team members whose continued focus on our customers and ability to adapt and respond has helped to deliver another strong half-year result.”

The company also revealed it opened four new JB Hi-Fi stores in Australia and closed one during the 2026 financial year, and opened three new stores and relocated one in New Zealand. 

Australian retail spending rose by 4.8 per cent in December 2026 compared to the previous year, according to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, but were down by 0.4 per cent compared to November. 

A premium wine maker, whose portfolio includes the prestigious Penfolds brand, has plunged into the red after it was forced to swallow one-off hits to its bottom line.

Treasury Wine Estates on Monday reported a first-half bottom-line net loss of $649.4 million, against a net profit of $220.9 million in the previous corresponding period.

The statutory result reflected a post-tax loss of $751 million, due to an impairment related to its US assets.

Stripping out that impact, its interim net profit was $128.5 million, down 46.3 per cent.

However, Treasury Wine’s underlying result – earnings before interest and tax, SGARA and material items – was $236.4 million, which was just above its guidance of $225 million to $235 million, albeit a fall of almost 40 per cent.

The underlying result reflected the ongoing impact of trends in its US and China markets, including the restriction of shipments due to parallel import activity in China.

“TWE has commenced strategic action to maintain brand strength and healthy sales channels across key markets, with reducing customer inventory holdings in the US and China as a priority,” it said in a statement.

The group expects its second half underlying earnings for 20205/26 to be higher than the first half, driven by improved momentum in its California business.

Treasury Wine booked sales of $1.3 billion for the first half, down 16 per cent on the prior corresponding period.

A global financial body has urged the federal government to implement tax reform as Australia’s economy manages a “soft landing”.

In its latest report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) praised the handling of Australia’s economy during difficult conditions as inflation pressures return.

“Executive directors welcomed Australia’s progress toward a soft landing and internal balance,” the report said.

“They commend Australia’s robust institutions, flexible markets, agile policy toolkit and flexible exchange rate, which position the country to manage external risks from trade policy uncertainties and tighter global financial conditions.”

The report came after an uptick in inflation, which led the Reserve Bank to hike interest rates.

The IMF urged the federal government to find other methods to improve the fiscal situation.

“(Directors) encouraged comprehensive tax and expenditure reforms, while protecting and prioritising infrastructure investments to enhance productivity and  support growth,” the report said.

“Directors highlighted the need for a holistic strategy to address housing supply constraints, emphasising implementation of supply-boosting measures and tax reforms.”

The fund also called for an increase in the 10 per cent rate of GST, lowering the company tax rate and increasing taxes on resources.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is expected to announce a reduction of the 50 per cent concession for capital gains tax in the May federal budget.

However, the treasurer said the government had not changed plans on the tax discount.

“We know there are intergenerational issues in our economy and in our budget. We’re dealing with them in other ways,” he told ABC radio on Monday.

Dr Chalmers said the fund’s report was an indication the federal budget was heading in the right direction despite global headwinds.

“The IMF’s report shows that our economic agenda with cost-of-living relief, budget repair, and economic reform is the right approach,” he said in a statement.

“The IMF has described the government’s reform agenda as ‘bold’ and recognised our efforts across multiple fronts.”

The report also called for better ties between the federal government and states and territories.

“Directors also recommended improved fiscal co-ordination across the federation and regular monitoring of sub-national fiscal positions,” the report said.

Despite the praise in the fund’s report, Dr Chalmers said more work needed to be done.

“There are some ideas in these reports that we agree with, some that we don’t, that we won’t be picking up and running with,” Dr Chalmers told ABC radio.

“But overwhelmingly, this IMF report was a very positive report about Australia and about the government’s economic plan.”

Australia’s biggest steelmaker has reported a big jump in interim profit weeks after it rejected a takeover bid.

BlueScope Steel’s bottom-line net profit for the first half of 2025/26 came in at $390.8 million, up 118 per cent from $179.1 million in the previous corresponding period.

The result was underpinned by a four per cent lift in sales revenue to $8.2 billion, setting the group up for an 81 per cent increase in underlying earnings before interest and tax to $557.5 million.

New chief executive Tania Archibald, who on Monday is presenting her first set of results, said BlueScope saw high volumes across its key markets.

“This result is a clear demonstration of the strength and diversity of our portfolio during a period of sustained low Asian steel spreads,” she said in a statement.

“BlueScope is approaching an inflection point.

“The current $2 billion investment program is entering the final phase and the company is poised to deliver materially stronger cash flows. As the investment phase ramps down, the delivery phase ramps up.”

BlueScope owns the key Port Kembla steelworks in southern NSW and the North Star operation in the US, which uses scrap to produce hot-rolled steel at low cost, and has assets in New Zealand and Asia.

In January, the company rejected a $13.2 billion approach from the Stokes family-controlled SGH and Steel Dynamics of the US, which at the time equated to $30 a share.

The would-be predators later signalled their offer had effectively fallen to $29 per share after BlueScope announced it would hand back $438 million to shareholders.

SGH chief executive Ryan Stokes recently said the proposal was full and fair, although he was comfortable about moving on if BlueScope shareholders didn’t see it that way.

BlueScope is forecasting its second-half underlying earnings before interest and tax to be between $620 million and $700 million – an improvement on the first half.

It declared a dividend for the six months ended December 31 of 65 cents per share.

BlueScope shares ended Friday at $29.16.

Israel’s cabinet has approved further measures to tighten Israel’s control over the occupied West Bank and make it easier for settlers to buy land, in ‌a move Palestinians called “a de facto annexation”.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for ‌a future independent state. 

Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in ‌some areas run by the western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.

His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war, ‌to which ‌Israel cites biblical ⁠and historical ties.

Ministers voted in favour of beginning a process of ​land registration for the first time since 1967.

“We are continuing the revolution of settlement and strengthening our hold across all parts of our land,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of Netanyahu’s government.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said land registration was a vital security measure designed to ensure control, enforcement, and full freedom of ⁠action for Israel in the area to protect ‌its citizens ​and safeguard national interests.

The cabinet said in a statement that registration was an “appropriate response to illegal land ​registration processes promoted ‌by the Palestinian Authority,” and would end disputes.

The PA presidency rejected the cabinet’s decision, saying ​it constitutes “a de facto annexation of occupied Palestinian territory and a declaration of the commencement of annexation plans aimed at entrenching the occupation through illegal settlement activity”.

US President Donald Trump has ruled out ​Israeli ​annexation of the West Bank, but his ​administration has not sought to curb Israel’s accelerated settlement ‌building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.

The United Nations’ highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there are illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. 

Israel disputes this view, ​saying it has historical and biblical ties to the land.

The land registration adds to a series ​of measures taken earlier this ⁠month to expand control. 

While larger businesses are increasingly seeking credit to fuel growth, some companies are struggling just to keep the lights on, new data shows.

Overall business credit demand grew 2.3 per cent in the three months to December compared to the equivalent 2024 quarter, according to the latest Equifax Business Market Pulse report.

Still, overall business demand was nine per cent lower than four years before, and companies’ ability and willingness to take on debt depended heavily on their size, Equifax commercial general manager Brad Walters said.

“While large-scale businesses appear to be accelerating their credit appetite more quickly, SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises) appear to be navigating a steadier path upward as they balance growth with external factors such as the pressures of inflation,” he said.

“They don’t always have the means to absorb potential shocks as easily as their larger competitors, so they’re choosing a steadier, more sustainable climb back to the top.”

The gap was clear across multiple sectors but was stark in retail, which recorded a 7.9 per cent surge in credit demand by large enterprises compared to a stagnant 0.7 per cent increase for SMEs.

However, the number of shops forced to close their doors was even more staggering.

“While we have seen strong demand growth among large retailers, the wider sector still shows some signs of pressure, with the past quarter revealing a substantial 64 per cent increase in retail insolvencies year-on-year,” Mr Walters said.

In hospitality, insolvencies remained high overall but slipped nine per cent compared to the equivalent 2024 quarter, but organisations’ relative appetite for credit told a familiar story about growth prospects.

Trade credit demand from large hospitality groups grew almost a fifth over the quarter, while overall credit growth from smaller players was marginal.

In construction, insolvencies remained high and relatively unchanged, while credit data showed bigger builders were confidently buying materials for their project pipelines, driving a 6.6 per cent lift in trade credit.

“During this same time period, small construction businesses appear to be avoiding broad debt, seen by a slight reduction (-0.7 per cent) in overall demand, and only borrowing for specific tools via asset finance (+4 per cent).”

Both Commonwealth Bank and Westpac last week noted they expected credit demand from businesses and households to remain resilient in 2026, despite the nation transitioning into an interest rate rise cycle.

Earlier this month, the central bank hiked rates for the first time in two years and economists believe more increases are on the cards this year, with the next most likely in May.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor will soon unveil his overhauled front bench as he signals a shift to the right with a focus on issues such as immigration.

The newly elected Liberal leader spent his first few days in the role sketching key priorities after turfing out the party’s first female leader, Sussan Ley, on Friday following weeks of infighting.

Policy announcements are expected to be accompanied by a refreshed front bench, with exiled conservatives and leadership agitators Andrew Hastie and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price poised to return.

“They’re magnificent members of our team,” Mr Taylor said on Sunday of the pair, whose previous frontbench stints ended due to migration-related issues.

While offering few details on his party’s approach, Mr Taylor promised to pursue a stricter immigration policy, repeatedly flagging plans to reduce the nation’s migrant intake and tighten screening.

“The (migration) numbers under Labor have been just extraordinary – way beyond what this country can absorb,” he said.

“Standards have been too low, numbers have been too high and we haven’t explicitly shut the door on people who reject our way of life.”

The Hume MP said he would unveil a full policy “in the coming days”.

Mr Taylor has insisted the coalition is not trying to become “One Nation lite” as it bleeds voter support to the anti-immigration party.

The first poll since Mr Taylor became Liberal leader, published by Nine newspapers on Monday, showed Labor with 32 per cent of the primary vote and One Nation and the coalition tied on 23 per cent.

The Resolve poll of 1800 people conducted between February 8 and Saturday found a Mr Taylor-led coalition three percentage points ahead of a Ms Ley-led opposition.

One Nation recorded primary support of 27 per cent in the latest Newspoll, conducted before Mr Taylor toppled Ms Ley as leader, with the coalition on 18 per cent.

Former senior immigration official Abul Rizvi said Mr Taylor’s pointed tough-on-immigration stance appeared to be directly influenced by One Nation’s rise.

“He reads the polls as closely as anybody,” Mr Rizvi told AAP.

However, he noted strong character requirements already existed for migrants looking to enter Australia and they had only been tightened by anti-hate crime laws introduced after the Bondi terror attack.

Labor had also tightened the previous coalition government’s policies on student and working holiday visas that drove a big increase in migration to Australia in 2022-23, Mr Rizvi said.

“Mr Taylor may have forgotten his government also introduced fee-free student visa applications and fee-free working holiday maker applications,” he said. 

“The Labor government were slow to reverse those policies, but they did get rid of them.”

Mr Taylor and deputy Jane Hume have also repeatedly vowed to offer lower taxes, a renewed focus on housing affordability and the end of an “ideological approach” to energy policies.

Senator Hume said Australia needed to be “open-minded” on nuclear energy if the country was to reduce emissions and make power cheaper.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has accused Ukraine of delaying the restart of a pipeline carrying Russian oil to Eastern Europe ‌via Ukraine in order to pressure Hungary to drop its opposition to Ukraine’s future membership of the European ‌Union.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that Russian oil destined for eastern Europe and transiting via ‌the Ukrainian part of the Druzhba pipeline had been suspended since January 27 due to a Russian attack.

Fico, who has maintained relations with Moscow after it invaded Ukraine in 2022 and has blamed European partners for prolonging the war by supplying weapons to Kyiv, said oil supplies have become a ‌political issue, but ‌did not provide ⁠any evidence to back up his claim.

“We have information that (the pipeline) ​should have been fixed,” Fico told reporters after meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Bratislava on Sunday.

“I perceive what is happening around oil today as political blackmail toward Hungary due to the uncompromising stance of Hungary on Ukraine’s EU membership,” Fico said.

He said the pressure was that “if Hungary agrees ⁠with EU membership, perhaps oil supplies arrive”.

A spokesperson for ‌Ukraine’s ​foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Fico’s comments echoed Hungarian Foreign Minister ​Peter Szijjarto, who ‌on Friday accused Ukraine of holding up the resumption of flows.

Slovakia and Hungary have continued ​to buy Russian gas and oil despite EU efforts to switch to alternative supplies completely, with both countries arguing that their lack of access to sea terminals and alternative routes made diversification ​difficult ​and expensive.

Hungary opposes Ukraine’s EU entry. ​

Fico reiterated that Slovakia would agree to it ‌if Kyiv meets all necessary conditions, but he added that countries like Serbia, Albania and Montenegro were much better prepared for membership than Ukraine.

Fico also said he did not believe either side of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and could not say who was responsible for the damage to the pipeline.

“There have been ​so many lies from one side and the other that I do not have the ​courage to say who ⁠bombed or destroyed part of the oil infrastructure,” Fico told reporters. 

Mini-sabbaticals. Adult gap years. Micro-retirement. 

Extended career breaks go by many names and take many forms, from using the time between jobs to explore or taking an employer-approved leave to becoming a digital nomad or saving up for a months-long adventure. 

Creating space for a reset, whether mental, physical or spiritual, is the common thread. 

More companies are allowing weeks or months of paid or unpaid leave as a way to retain valued employees, according to Kira Schrabram, an assistant professor of management at the University of Washington’s business school.  

Seven years ago, she brought her experience researching burnout to the Sabbatical Project, an initiative founded by Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer DJ DiDonna that promotes sabbaticals as “a sacred human ritual” to which more people should have access. 

Schrabram, DiDonna and University of Notre Dame Professor Emeritus Matt Bloom interviewed 50 US professionals who took an extended break from non-academic jobs. 

From the responses, they identified three types of sabbaticals: working holidays that involved pursuing a passion project; “free dives” that combined exciting adventures with periods of rest; and quests undertaken by burned-out people who engaged in life-changing explorations once they had recovered sufficiently. 

More than half of the interview subjects self-funded their hiatuses. 

In an article for the Harvard Business Review, the researchers made a case for sabbaticals as a tool employers could use to recruit, keep and foster talented workers. 

Roshida Dowe was 39 years old and working as a corporate lawyer in California when she got laid off in 2018. 

Instead of seeking a new job right away, she decided to spend a year travelling. 

Struck by how many how many people asked how she managed it, Dowe decided to try working as an online career-break coach.

She and Stephanie Perry, a former pharmacy technician who also took a gap year to travel, co-founded ExodUS Summit, a virtual conference for black women to talk about taking a sabbatical or moving abroad. 

Speakers at the event discuss both practical considerations like finances, safety and health care, and more philosophical topics like the value of rest and breaking free of intergenerational trauma.

Showcasing women who set off to see the world is powerful because “a lot of us aren’t open to possibilities we haven’t been shown before,” said Dowe, who moved to Mexico City as part of her own reinvention.

“When I coach women who are looking to take a sabbatical, the main thing they’re looking for is permission,” she said. 

For Perry, a 2014 holiday in Brazil served as a catalyst; she met people staying in her hostel who were travelling for months, not days. 

She researched budget travel and found people making it work on $US40 ($A56) a day.

Before that, “I thought for sure people who travelled long term were all trust fund babies,” she said. 

Cost is a common obstacle for people considering a break. 

There are creative ways around that, said Perry, who has legal residency in Mexico and an apartment in Bogota, Colombia.

“House-sitting is the reason I can work very little and travel a lot,” she said. 

Perry, who has a YouTube channel where she posts videos about travelling or becoming an expat as a black American, raises money through her subscribers to sponsor black women on sabbaticals. 

When Ashley Graham took a break from her work at a non-profit in Washington, DC, she mapped out a road trip that included visiting friends with whom she could stay for free.

“It was a great way to connect with my past life,” said Graham, who subsequently relocated to New Orleans after loving the city during her sabbatical travels.

Taylor Anderson is a certified financial planner based in Vancouver, Washington, who specialises in helping clients plan for sabbaticals. 

She said many of the same principles apply to saving up for one as they do to saving for retirement. 

Both require financial discipline as well as a willingness to recognise when it’s safe to spend.

“We talk about money breathing. Sometimes it’s inhaling, sometimes it’s exhaling,” Anderson, who has experienced the benefits of a sabbatical reboot herself, said. 

“Often we find that people do have money saved, but they’re afraid to spend it.”

Can everyone afford to take a month or more without a pay cheque? Of course not. But for those who have built up a nest egg, “the cost is actually less than you might assume,” she said.

Artists Eric Rewitzer and Annie Galvin put two employees in charge of their San Francisco gallery in 2018 to spend the summer in France and Ireland.

“It was terrifying,” said Rewitzer, who described himself as having been a workaholic and control freak. 

“It was a huge exercise in trust.”

When they returned to San Francisco, Rewitzer saw the city differently. 

He felt his life had been out of balance — too much work and too little time in nature.

That shift in perspective led the couple to buy what they thought would be a weekend home in the Sierra Nevada. 

It turned into their full-time home when they shut down their gallery during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“It all comes back to that same place of being willing to take chances,” Rewitzer said.

Taking a break from college to be a ski bum in Vail, Colorado, set Gregory Du Bois on a path of taking mini-sabbaticals throughout his corporate IT career. 

Each time he took a new job, he negotiated for extended time off, explaining to his managers that to perform at his best, he needed breaks to recharge.

“It’s such a way of life that I almost don’t think of it as sabbaticals,” said Du Bois, who retired from tech and began working as a life coach in Sedona, Arizona. 

“For me, it’s a spiritual regeneration.”

A “big measles outbreak” in parts of London is affecting unvaccinated children under the age of 10, the UK Health Security Agency has confirmed.

It said the outbreak in schools and nurseries in north-east London had left some children requiring hospital treatment.

The agency had previously reported 34 laboratory-confirmed measles cases in Enfield from January 1 to February 9.

More than 60 suspected cases of measles have been reported by seven schools and a nursery in Enfield, the Sunday Times reports.

Measles is a highly infectious viral illness that can spread very easily among people who are not fully vaccinated.

While many people recover, the illness can lead to serious complications such as pneumonia, brain inflammation and, in rare cases, long-term disability or death.

“Measles is a nasty illness for any child, but for some it can lead to long-term complications and tragically death, but is so easily preventable with two doses of the MMRV vaccine,” said Dr Vanessa Saliba, consultant epidemiologist at the UK Health Security Agency.

“If your child has missed any of their doses, it’s important to catch up as soon as possible, giving them vital protection against this highly contagious disease, but also helping to protect more vulnerable children around them who are too young or unable to have the vaccine due to a health condition.”

She said with Easter holidays fast approaching, it is a timely reminder to families travelling overseas to ensure all family members, especially children, are vaccinated.

Global health officials announced earlier this year the UK is no longer considered to have eliminated measles.

Figures published last August by the UK Health Security Agency showed just 64.3 per cent of five-year-olds in Enfield had received both doses of the MMR vaccine in 2024/25 – one of the lowest rates in the country.

Enfield Council said it is working closely with the UK Health Security Agency, the National Health Service and local partners to respond to a confirmed outbreak of measles in the borough.

There is no treatment for measles, only the vaccination to prevent catching it, which is part of the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox) MMRV injection.

Two doses of a measles-containing vaccine provide high levels of protection and help prevent further outbreaks.