Global resources group BHP Billiton on Wednesday reported a 47,8% increase in attributable profit for the half-year ended December 2005, to $4,364-billion from $2,953-billion in the previous comparative period.
BHP Billiton’s latest half-year result is the fifth consecutive record half-year result the group has produced, the company said.
The company was expected to report attributable profit, excluding exceptional items, of $4,43-billion — up 61% from the previously reported $2,757-billion in the comparative six-month period in 2004, according to the median of six analysts.
Forecasts ranged from $4,303-billion to $4,65-billion.
The increase in profit was due to very strong commodity prices and higher production volumes, which resulted in record output for four commodities.
In January, BHP Billiton reported record half-year production of aluminium, copper, nickel and liquefied natural gas.
Interim basic earnings per share increased by 51,2% to 72,1 United States cents from 47,7 US cents previously.
The group declared an interim dividend of 17,5 US cents per share, up 29,6% from the previous 13,5 US cents.
The group also announced it would return a further $2-billion to its shareholders over the next 18 months through a series of share buybacks.
“Today’s announcement follows on last year’s $2-billion capital-management initiative,” the company said.
Revenue for the half-year increased by 19,5% to $18,172-billion from $15,207-billion previously.
BHP Billiton consists of seven divisions: aluminium, base metals, carbon-steel materials, diamonds and specialty products, energy coal, petroleum and stainless-steel materials.
Revenue from base metals rose by 72,2% to $4,031-billion during the half-year, carbon-steel materials’ turnover added 46,7% to $4,728-billion and stainless-steel materials revenue rose 34,1% to $1,358-billion.
Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased by 41,9% to $7,971-billion and earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) from operations increased by 43,3% to $6,259-billion.
Underlying Ebit from carbon-steel materials increased by 129,6% to $2,275-billion in the half-year and base metals’ underlying Ebit rose by 82% to $1,893-billion during the half-year.
Net operating cash flow rose by 34,8% to $4,308-billion.
During the half-year, BHP Billiton approved five additional growth projects with a total spend of $2,9-billion and the group’s total project pipeline of $14,4-billion.
“However, we continue to be faced with industry challenges in the delivery of these projects to budget. These challenges include shortages of skilled labour, construction and drilling plant and machinery, and currency strength against the US dollar. All of these have led to rising input cost,” BHP Billiton said.
Integration of the WMC Resources assets was completed during the period and the target for cost efficiencies of Aus$115-million a year was exceeded, the group said.
BHP Billiton completed the acquisition of WMC Resources on August 2 2005.
By December 2005, ongoing pre-tax cost efficiencies of Aus$160-million a year plus Aus$14-million a year in tax benefits were estimated to have been achieved, BHP Billiton said.
More than 430 people, including contractors, left WMC after the acquisition.
“It is expected that final annualised cost efficiencies will exceed Aus$180-million plus Aus$14-million per annum in tax benefits. In total, we expect approximately 500 people (including contractors) to leave the organisation,” BHP Billiton said.
“The final one-off cost to achieve these cost efficiencies is now estimated at Aus$103-million, compared to the Aus$120-million indicated at the time of the announcement to acquire WMC. The current period results include Aus$20-million of such costs and Aus$17-million are expected for the remainder of the 2006 financial year. Aus$66-million was expensed in the 2005 financial year,” the group added.
Turning to the outlook, BHP Billiton said that over the past six months the global economy had continued to be buoyant with economic growth becoming more broadly based towards the end of last year as emerging recoveries in Japan and Europe offset a slowing in the US.
China and other countries in Asia had benefited from the robust global economy, while strong commodity prices have led to significant gains in the Russian and Latin-American economies.
Global economic resilience had continued despite a series of potential disruptions including rising oil prices and a move to higher interest rates in the US.
“The immediate outlook for the global economy continues to be promising,” BHP Billiton said.
Industrial production growth in the OECD is accelerating and the rise in the leading indicators suggests further improvement, the group said.
In China, recent revisions point to the economy growing at an average of about 10% a year over the past three years, and although Chinese economic growth is likely to slow somewhat in 2006, it will remain at a relatively high level.
Elsewhere, emerging markets are likely to enjoy robust economic conditions, although for some countries a high level of indebtedness and/or political uncertainty could dampen the outlook.
“The positive demand environment and the continued inability of the supply side to respond fast enough to increased demand means prices continue to remain strong relative to historical levels,” the group said.
“This imbalance in demand and supply is caused by the demand growth in emerging economies and the lack of latent mine capacity,” the group added.
“In addition, delays to new capacity caused by increasing pressures on construction costs, the availability of skilled labour and raw materials look set to continue for at least the next several years,” BHP Billiton said.
“While the impact of this on prices will vary by commodity, the fundamentals of our business remain solid as we bring on new volumes to take advantage of strong demand and high relative prices.
“Our confidence in the demand outlook for the next 18 to 24 months (in the absence of unforeseen circumstances) and higher-than-expected prices means we are able to continue to return surplus capital to shareholders while meeting our needs to continue to expand our productive capacity,” the group said. — I-Net Bridge