Children and young people who live in Sheffield will get free bus and tram travel across South Yorkshire after a pilot scheme was voted through by councillors.

Sheffield City Council’s strategy and resources committee approved a 29-week scheme for people aged five to 18.

The trial will run from 15 February 2027 and is expected to cost £7.6m.

Council leader Fran Belbin said it would help families with the cost of living and give thousands of young people greater independence.

“The cost of a bus or tram journey should never be what stops a young person getting to college, taking up an apprenticeship, joining a sports club or simply spending time with friends,” she said.

Belbin revealed the pilot has deliberately been timed to run until September 2027, when a separate scheme run by South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard will provide region-wide free travel scheme for the same age group.

The pilot has been developed with the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, drawing on experience from Barnsley’s MiCard scheme, which saw passenger numbers increase particularly in some of the most deprived areas.

Eligible children and young people will use a dedicated smartcard and usage, journey patterns, the cost and impact on the transport network will be monitored so the success of the pilot can be assessed.

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SYDNEY — The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Brisbane Broncos meet Thursday night at Accor Stadium in a match with little on the line beyond pride, as both clubs close out a disappointing 2026 NRL season having already been eliminated from finals contention.

Kickoff for the Round 27 clash is set for 7:50 p.m. AEST, marking the opening fixture of the final round of the regular Telstra Premiership season. With the top eight already locked in ahead of this week’s matches, Thursday’s meeting between the 10th-placed Bulldogs and 15th-placed Broncos carries no bearing on the finals picture, leaving both sides to play primarily for pride and momentum heading into the 2027 campaign.

The result marks a significant fall for both clubs after each played finals football in 2025. Brisbane’s decline has been particularly steep, given the Broncos entered this season as reigning premiers following their 2025 grand final triumph. Instead, Brisbane’s title defense has unraveled into one of the more significant disappointments of the 2026 season, with the club sitting well outside finals contention heading into the year’s final round.

The Broncos arrive at Accor Stadium in the midst of an extended defensive collapse. Brisbane has conceded 30 points or more in six consecutive matches and has surrendered 40 or more points on six separate occasions this season. Over their past five matches alone, the Broncos have lost by margins of 24, 34, eight and 26 points, interrupted only by a narrow four-point win over Canberra. Their most recent outing saw them fall 46-20 at home to Melbourne, extending the pattern of defensive breakdowns that has defined their season.

Brisbane has made just one change to its lineup for Thursday’s match, with Ben Talty replacing Blake Mozer on the interchange bench due to a concussion stand-down for Mozer. The Broncos’ starting side features Hayze Perham at fullback, Kotoni Staggs and Deine Mariner in the centres, Ezra Mam at five-eighth alongside halfback Ben Hunt, and Patrick Carrigan captaining the side from lock. Payne Haas starts at prop, while Jordan Riki and Jaiyden Hunt round out the second-row pairing.

The Bulldogs, meanwhile, saw their own finals hopes extinguished last week following a 24-10 defeat to Penrith, though coach Cameron Ciraldo has elected to retain the same starting 13 for Thursday’s match. Canterbury may welcome back Kurt Mann from a groin injury through the reserves, giving the club additional depth as it closes out the season. Despite the defeat to Penrith, the Bulldogs were considered competitive throughout, defending repeated sets close to their own try line and remaining within striking distance deep into the second half, with Matt Burton and Jacob Preston both crossing for tries in that match.

Canterbury’s lineup for Thursday features Connor Tracey at fullback, Jacob Kiraz and Enari Tuala on the wings, and a centre pairing of Matt Burton and Bronson Xerri. Captain Stephen Crichton starts at five-eighth alongside halfback Lachlan Galvin, while Jaeman Salmon captains the forward pack from lock. Max King starts at prop opposite hooker Bailey Hayward, with Viliame Kikau and Jacob Preston forming the second-row combination.

Despite their inconsistent form across the season, the Bulldogs have shown flashes of attacking potency in recent weeks, scoring 44 points against St. George Illawarra and 36 against Melbourne, and averaging 22.8 points across their past five matches. That attacking output, combined with Brisbane’s well-documented defensive struggles, has made Canterbury the clear favorite heading into Thursday’s contest according to bookmakers.

The two clubs met earlier this season in Round 8, when Brisbane claimed a comfortable 32-12 victory, a result that underscores how significantly Brisbane’s form has deteriorated since that meeting given the extent of their defensive collapse in the months since. Analysts previewing Thursday’s rematch have suggested Canterbury will need to focus on improving its own execution rather than relying solely on the ladder-position gap between the two teams, given how unpredictable both sides have proven across the back half of the season.

Grant Atkins will officiate Thursday’s match as referee, with Belinda Sharpe serving as touch judge and Chris Butler operating as senior review official from the bunker.

For Brisbane, Thursday’s match represents an opportunity to end a difficult title-defense campaign on a positive note, even as the broader shape of the season leaves the club facing significant questions heading into the off-season about how to address the defensive issues that undermined its premiership defense. Head coach Michael Maguire’s side has struggled for consistency for much of the year, and Thursday’s match against a fellow non-finalist offers a low-pressure environment in which to search for answers before the club begins its preparations for 2027.

For Canterbury, the match offers a chance to build momentum heading into the off-season under Ciraldo, who has overseen a Bulldogs side that, despite ultimately falling short of finals qualification, showed periods of competitive form throughout the year, including matches in which the club’s attacking game clicked into gear against quality opposition.

With the finals field already determined ahead of Round 27, Thursday’s Bulldogs-Broncos clash joins several other matches across the final round that carry similarly limited stakes for ladder positioning, even as clubs look to finish the regular season strongly and establish form heading into the summer break. Both the Bulldogs and Broncos will be eager to avoid finishing their campaigns on a losing note, particularly given the broader narrative of decline both clubs have experienced relative to their finals appearances a year earlier.

Thursday’s match will be broadcast via WatchNRL, with conditions at Accor Stadium reported as fine with good ground conditions ahead of kickoff. The result will have no bearing on the finals series set to begin in the coming weeks, but will offer both clubs a final data point on their form heading into an off-season likely to bring significant scrutiny, particularly for Brisbane given the scale of its fall from champion status over the course of the 2026 season.

Welspun Corp shares jumped nearly 6% during Thursday’s trading session after Jefferies initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a price target of Rs 3,250, citing a multi-year upcycle in energy and water infrastructure spending in the US and Saudi Arabia.

The target implies a potential upside of 27% from the brokerage’s reference price of Rs 2,553.45. Jefferies valued the stock at 17 times its estimated September 2028 enterprise value-to-EBITDA.

At 9:26 am, Welspun Corp was trading at Rs 2,669.70 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), up Rs 146.20, or 5.79%. The stock opened at Rs 2,554.70 against its previous close of Rs 2,523.50, while its volume-weighted average price stood at Rs 2,612.52.

Welspun Corp has rallied 51.51% over the past month, outperforming the benchmark’s 2.80% gain. The counter recorded a traded value of Rs 411.36 crore, while its free-float market capitalisation stood at Rs 33,944 crore.

Jefferies said Welspun, the world’s largest welded line-pipe manufacturer, is well placed to benefit from rising energy and water infrastructure spending in the US and Saudi Arabia, adding that its local manufacturing presence in both markets, capacity expansion, and robust order book provide strong earnings visibility.

US energy infrastructure upcycle

Jefferies expects US energy infrastructure investment to enter a multi-year expansion phase, driven by increasing liquefied natural gas exports, rising electricity demand from data centres and higher associated gas production from the Permian Basin.
Bloomberg estimates cited in the report peg cumulative US midstream capital expenditure at around $240 billion during 2026-30, up 57% from the preceding five years. Jefferies also believes spending estimates could be revised upwards as several proposed pipeline projects have yet to receive final approval.Welspun holds an estimated 30% share of the US large-diameter line-pipe market. Its domestic manufacturing presence gives it an advantage over import-dependent suppliers by limiting exposure to trade barriers, reducing delivery times and improving eligibility for projects that prioritise locally manufactured products.

The company is more than doubling its US line-pipe capacity (from 5.25 lakh tonnes per annum to nearly 11.75 lakh tonnes by FY27) to capitalise on the expected increase in pipeline construction.

Saudi Arabia expansion and India opportunity

Saudi Arabia offers a major growth opportunity as it expands energy and water infrastructure under Vision 2030. Welspun owns 22% of East Pipes Integrated Company and is building six lakh tonnes of annual capacity through a wholly owned subsidiary. Jefferies expects localisation requirements and Saudi Aramco’s planned 80% increase in gas-production capacity by 2030 to support demand.

Meanwhile, India also presents a sizeable long-term opportunity across oil and gas, drinking water, irrigation and river-linking projects, with more than 25,000 kilometres of gas pipelines commissioned and over 10,000 kilometres under construction. However, Jefferies said near-term visibility remains uncertain because delayed project awards, funding constraints and excess ductile-iron pipe capacity have weighed on domestic demand, while greater competition has kept margins below those in the US.

Growth projections

Jefferies expects Welspun’s total pipe-manufacturing capacity to increase 51% to 37 lakh tonnes per annum by FY27, from 24 lakh tonnes in FY26. The expansion is projected to support a 17% compound annual growth rate in volumes between FY26 and FY29.

The brokerage expects EBITDA to grow at a CAGR of 32%, while earnings per share are projected to increase at a CAGR of 33% over the same period. Growth is expected to be supported by higher volumes and a greater contribution from the company’s more profitable overseas operations.

Revenue is forecast to nearly double from Rs 16,770 crore in FY26 to Rs 33,217 crore in FY29. EBITDA is projected to increase from Rs 2,236 crore to Rs 5,138 crore, while net profit is estimated to rise from Rs 1,613 crore to Rs 3,805 crore.

Earnings per share are expected to climb from Rs 61.15 in FY26 to Rs 144.25 in FY29. Jefferies also expects EBITDA per tonne to improve to between Rs 23,000 and Rs 25,000 during FY27-FY29 as the overseas business accounts for a larger share of earnings.

Order book and balance sheet

Welspun’s order book stood at Rs 42,100 crore, equivalent to around 2.5 times its FY26 revenue and providing strong visibility on future sales, according to Jefferies.

The brokerage expects the company’s net cash position to rise from Rs 1,400 crore at the end of FY26 to Rs 3,900 crore by FY29. It also forecasts free cash flow of Rs 1,100-2,000 crore during FY28 and FY29 as operating cash generation improves and capital expenditure moderates.

Welspun delivered an average return on equity of 21% during FY24-FY26. Jefferies expects the ratio to remain at 22-23% during FY27-FY29.

Key risks

Jefferies identified slower-than-expected order inflows in the US and the Middle East, margin pressure from increased competition, and delays in commissioning new capacity as the key risks to its thesis. Elsewhere in the report, it also flagged sluggish execution of Indian infrastructure projects and the company’s relatively high working-capital requirements as factors that could affect volumes and cash generation.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)

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PERTH, Australia — Fremantle and Hawthorn face off Thursday evening in Qualifying Final One of the 2026 Toyota AFL Finals Series, with the two clubs kicking off the second week of the season’s finals action at Optus Stadium in Perth.

The match is scheduled for a first bounce at 8:10 p.m. AEST, which corresponds to 6:10 p.m. local time in Perth given the time difference between Western Australia and the eastern states. Fans checking match times through various apps and platforms may see the fixture listed at slightly different local times depending on the time zone their device or app is configured to display, so those planning to watch are advised to confirm the exact broadcast start time for their specific region ahead of kickoff.

For viewers across Australia, Thursday’s Qualifying Final will be broadcast live nationally on the Seven Network, offering free-to-air coverage of the match for fans without a pay television or streaming subscription. The game will also be available through Fox Footy for those with access to Foxtel or a similar pay-television package, providing an alternative viewing option with dedicated football commentary and analysis throughout the broadcast.

For fans who prefer to stream the match rather than watch via traditional television, the game will be available live on Kayo Sports, Foxtel’s dedicated sports streaming platform, which carries the Fox Footy simulcast for subscribers. Kayo has become one of the most popular ways for Australian sports fans to follow AFL matches throughout the season, offering flexibility to watch on mobile devices, smart TVs, and other connected streaming platforms.

The AFL also offers its own dedicated streaming service, Watch AFL, which provides coverage of the league’s Finals Series through an official Finals Pass. That option is particularly relevant for fans located outside Australia who may not have access to Seven Network or Foxtel’s domestic broadcast, as Watch AFL’s international service is specifically designed to allow overseas AFL fans to follow matches live throughout the finals series and the broader home-and-away season.

Thursday’s clash marks Fremantle’s return to hosting a home final at Optus Stadium, with the venue serving as the site for what promises to be a significant occasion for the club and its supporter base in Western Australia. Ticket demand for the match has been substantial, with Optus Stadium confirming that all available tickets for the Qualifying Final between Fremantle and Hawthorn have sold out, with no further general public tickets expected to be released. A limited number of premium hospitality packages remained available through the AFL’s official event office for fans seeking an alternative way to attend in person.

For Hawthorn supporters making the trip west or gathering to watch from afar, the club has organized a range of finals-week activities to build anticipation ahead of the match, including a pre-game “Hawk Walk” procession across Perth’s Matagarup Bridge, featuring an address from club president Andy Gowers before supporters make their way toward the stadium. The club has also promoted a series of watch parties and viewing locations for fans unable to attend in person, including designated gathering spots for supporters wanting to watch the match together in a communal setting.

Thursday’s Qualifying Final represents the second week of the AFL’s expanded 2026 finals format, following the conclusion of the home-and-away season and the opening week of finals action. The winner of Thursday’s match between Fremantle and Hawthorn will advance directly into the following week’s Preliminary Final, while the losing side will earn a second chance through the Semi Final round rather than being immediately eliminated from premiership contention, consistent with the AFL’s long-standing finals structure that rewards higher-seeded teams with a more forgiving path through the finals series.

The broader 2026 AFL Finals Series continues across the same weekend with additional Qualifying and Elimination Finals scheduled at other major venues around the country. Geelong is set to host Hawthorn’s fellow finalists at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday, while further matches are scheduled at the Sydney Cricket Ground and Adelaide Oval over the following days, rounding out the second week of what has been a closely followed finals campaign across the league.

For those following the broader context of the AFL season, the 2026 competition began on Thursday, March 5, and is scheduled to conclude with the AFL Grand Final on Saturday, September 26. Under the terms of the league’s current broadcast agreement, every AFL match throughout the season, including all finals fixtures, is made available to fans both via traditional television broadcast and through official streaming platforms, ensuring nationwide access regardless of whether a given match is played in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide or elsewhere around the country.

Fans hoping to follow Thursday’s match through live scoring updates, rather than a full video broadcast, can also track the game through the AFL’s official Match Centre, which provides real-time score updates, statistics and highlights throughout the contest, along with post-match interviews and analysis once the final siren has sounded.

With tickets to Optus Stadium already sold out and significant national broadcast coverage secured across free-to-air, pay television and streaming platforms, Thursday’s Qualifying Final between Fremantle and Hawthorn is shaping up as one of the more closely watched fixtures of this week’s finals slate, offering fans multiple ways to follow the action regardless of whether they are attending in person, watching from home, or tuning in from overseas through the league’s international streaming service.

As kickoff approaches, both clubs will be looking to secure the direct path to a Preliminary Final berth that comes with victory in Thursday’s contest, adding an extra layer of stakes to what is already expected to be a heavily attended and closely followed occasion for both the Fremantle and Hawthorn supporter bases heading into the business end of the 2026 AFL season.

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MELBOURNE, Australia — Shares of Southern Cross Gold Consolidated Ltd. climbed sharply Thursday, rising $0.92, or 8.13%, to $12.24, after the exploration company released a fresh batch of high-grade drilling results from its flagship Sunday Creek gold-antimony project in Victoria.

The dual-listed company, which trades under the ticker SXGC on the Toronto Stock Exchange and as SX2 through CHESS Depositary Interests on the Australian Securities Exchange, announced Wednesday that results from five newly reported drill holes had extended the known mineralization at Sunday Creek to its furthest eastern point to date, while also showing increasing grades at depth within the project’s Apollo prospect.

The headline result came from drill hole SDDSC222W1, which returned an intersection of 0.6 meters at 993.2 grams per tonne gold equivalent, comprising 972.0 grams per tonne gold and 8.9% antimony, from a depth of 808.5 meters. The company said the intersection ranked as the ninth-best composite result drilled at Sunday Creek to date, striking mineralization roughly 620 meters below surface within the Apollo prospect.

A separate hole, SDDSC227, delivered what Southern Cross Gold described as the shallowest high-grade intersection yet drilled in the project’s Apollo East zone, returning 5.1 meters at 27.2 grams per tonne gold equivalent, including a higher-grade section of 2.6 meters at 51.1 grams per tonne gold equivalent, from a depth of just 260.9 meters. The company said the hole also represented the most easterly and shallowest significant drill intersection reported at the project to date, alongside an antimony assay of 32.5%.

Southern Cross Gold said the latest results reinforced the view that the mineralized system at Sunday Creek remains open both laterally and at depth, with the company continuing a systematic step-out drilling program designed to test the full extent of the deposit. As of the company’s latest project update, dated Sept. 2, a total of 283 drill holes covering 136,941 meters have now been reported across the main Sunday Creek area, which spans a strike length of 1,550 meters between the Christina and Apollo prospects, along with additional regional targets at the Leviathan, Tonstal and Consols prospects located up to 8 kilometers to the northeast.

The company has described the geological structure at Sunday Creek as resembling the side rails of a ladder when viewed from above, with sub-vertical mineralized vein sets acting as the ladder’s “rungs” extending from surface to significant depth. At the project’s Apollo and Rising Sun zones specifically, these individual mineralized structures have now been defined across a vertical extent of more than 600 meters, reaching as deep as 1,245 meters below surface, with widths typically ranging between 2.5 and 3.5 meters, and in some cases up to 10 meters, extending along strike lengths of between 20 and 100 meters.

According to the company, at least 125 of these mineralized “rungs” have now been identified at Sunday Creek, with high-grade intercepts reaching as much as 7,330 grams per tonne gold at the system’s richest points. As of the Sept. 2 update, the project has delivered a cumulative total of 98 composite drill intersections exceeding 100 grams per tonne gold, 83 composite intersections between 50 and 100 grams per tonne gold, and 111 individual intersections exceeding 10% antimony, based on a cutoff grade of 5 grams per tonne gold equivalent applied over a minimum 1-meter downhole interval.

Southern Cross Gold holds 100% ownership of the Sunday Creek project, located roughly 60 kilometers north of Melbourne within Victoria’s historic goldfields region. The company controls a broader tenement package spanning 16,900 hectares in the area, including 1,392 hectares of key freehold land directly covering the Sunday Creek mineralized system, giving the company a strong strategic land position as it continues expanding the known extent of the deposit through ongoing exploration drilling.

Thursday’s share price gain adds to a substantial run for the stock over the past year. According to market data, Southern Cross Gold’s share price has climbed more than 267% over the trailing 52 weeks, reflecting sustained investor interest in the company’s ongoing exploration success at Sunday Creek. The stock’s elevated volatility, with a beta measure of 2.92 according to available market statistics, indicates the shares have moved considerably more sharply than the broader market in both directions over that period, a pattern common among small-cap exploration companies delivering a steady stream of high-grade drilling news.

Beyond gold, Southern Cross Gold’s project carries added significance given the antimony content found alongside gold mineralization at Sunday Creek. Antimony has drawn increasing strategic attention in recent years as a critical mineral used in a range of industrial and defense-related applications, with global supply chains for the metal remaining heavily concentrated in China. The dual gold-antimony nature of the Sunday Creek deposit has positioned Southern Cross Gold as a company of interest not only to traditional gold-focused investors but also to those tracking the broader push by Western governments and manufacturers to diversify critical mineral supply chains.

Michael Hudson, president, chief executive officer and managing director of Southern Cross Gold, serves as the qualified person responsible for reviewing and verifying the technical content of the company’s drilling disclosures, in line with standard reporting requirements for mineral exploration companies listed on both the Toronto and Australian exchanges.

The company has continued to release drilling results from Sunday Creek on a rolling basis throughout 2026, with Wednesday’s announcement following a similar high-grade update released roughly a week earlier that included a standout intersection of 0.3 meters at 1,466 grams per tonne gold from the project’s Rising Sun zone. That earlier result was described by the company as among the deepest and highest-grade intersections reported at Sunday Creek to date, further reinforcing the broader trend of expanding, high-grade mineralization the company has continued to report across the project’s evolving footprint.

With drilling ongoing and additional assay results still pending from the current program, Southern Cross Gold has indicated it will continue reporting new intersections as they become available, a pattern of regular newsflow that has helped sustain investor attention in the stock throughout the year even as the company works to further define the full scale of the Sunday Creek gold-antimony system.