BHP Announces Drop in Half-year Profit

BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE:BHP,ASX:BHP,LSE:BLT) released its report for the half year ended December 31, 2014, noting that its interim profit was nearly halved. Prices for the company’s main commodities have slumped in the past six months.

As quoted in the press release:

Improved productivity and reduced capital expenditure allowed us to generate US$4.1 billion of free cash flow(2) and strengthen the balance sheet despite lower prices.

We are extending our productivity gains faster than initially anticipated with US $2.4 billion(3) achieved in the period. We expect over US$4.0 billion of productivity gains by the end of the 2017 financial year (4)

BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie stated:

We started to prepare for a sustained period of lower prices almost three years ago by increasing our focus on efficiency and lowering our investment. Since then, we have achieved annualised productivity gains approaching $10-billion and reduced capital spending by almost 40%.

Click here for the full BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE:BHP,ASX:BHP,LSE:BLT) press release