This morning BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) released its report for its 2018 financial year showing a 21% jump in revenue and a profit from continuing operations of $US6.6 billion, up 4%.
‘The Big Australian’ announced that it will pay a final dividend of US63 cents per share. Together with its half-yearly dividend, investors will be paid total dividends of $US1.18 per share, up 43% from last year’s combined payments of US 83 cents per share.
According to Bloomberg, analysts were expecting BHP to report a profit of $6.98 billion and pay total dividends of $US1.17 per share. Therefore, although the profit figure was below consensus forecasts, the final dividend appears in-line with expectations.
However, BHP said its underlying attributable profit grew 33% to $US8.9 billion, which would be a beat on consensus estimates.
Digging Into The Numbers
“Our relentless focus on safety and productivity has released additional volumes across our supply chain, with eight per cent volume growth for the year,” CEO Andrew Mackenzie said.
As we wrote last month, BHP’s copper and iron ore production rose 32% and 3%, respectively, in 2018. And with its exit from US onshore petroleum (aka oil) looming, volumes were 8% lower year over year.
“We have started the new year with the sale of our Onshore US business for US$10.8 billion, and once completed we expect to return the net proceeds to shareholders,” Mackenzie added.
“Across our dramatically simplified portfolio of tier one assets, we see this year’s strong momentum carried into the medium term as our leadership, technology and culture drive further increases in productivity, value and returns.”
At the end of its 2018 financial year, BHP had net debt of $US10.9 billion, which it said was down from $US15 billion two years ago and reflects its strong cash flow.
Outlook
Commenting on the economic environment, BHP expects, “China’s economic growth to slow modestly in the 2018 calendar year.” Across the pond, the company expects protectionism to hurt the USA’s international competitiveness.
The BHP share price was trading 1% lower in early trading Tuesday morning.
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