BHP Billiton Ltd. paid out a record dividend and pledged to also return the proceeds of recent asset sales as profit jumped to the highest in four years on stronger prices and higher copper output.
The world’s top miner raised its annual dividend 42 per cent to US$1.18 a share, which included a record final payment, though didn’t confirm details of plans to hand back a windfall from the US$10.8 billion of deals agreed last month to sell U.S. shale assets.
Full-year underlying earnings jumped 33 per cent to US$8.9 billion in the 12 months through June, Melbourne-based BHP said Tuesday in a statement. That compared with a US$9.2 billion average estimate among analysts’ forecasts compiled by Bloomberg.
The record final dividend “reflects strong operating performance, prices and capital discipline,” Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie said in the statement. Net proceeds from the sale of U.S. onshore oil and gas assets will be returned once the agreements are completed, he said.
BHP’s cash pile is being boosted after it struck the deals last month to sell U.S. shale assets. BHP follows Rio Tinto Group and Vale SA in lifting payouts, as investors press for greater rewards and demand producers show restraint over spending on major projects or deals.
BHP booked US$5.2 billion of after-tax billion of impairments, including a previously flagged $2.8 billion writedown on the value of the shale assets. The company also took a US$650 million charge related to the Samarco dam failure.
Commodities have been roiled in recent months by concerns over potential weaker demand as global trade tensions stoke worries over slower growth in China, the top consumer of raw materials. The Bloomberg Commodity Index has lost about 9 per cent from a recent peak in May.
BHP forecasts China’s growth to slow modestly in 2018, while “downside risks have increased due to rising trade protectionism,” the producer said in the statement.
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