Published On: February 20th, 2024
BHP Group Limited ASX has recently released its unreasonable half-year results. The company has reportedly witnessed a massive decline in its profits. If we go by the statistics, this is the lowest profit record that BHP Group Limited share price ASX has seen in the last eight years. The reason behind this downfall is the recent impairment in iron ore assets in Brazil and nickel ore assets in Australia.
A BHP Group Limited Mining Site
BHP Group Limited ASX News
As mentioned earlier, the renowned mining company has already released its results, which reveal some disastrous numbers. According to the same report, the company reported a 6% increase in revenue, which accounts for US$27.2 billion. Despite this growth, the profit after tax experienced a notable decline.
According to the latest reports, it declined by 86% to a mere US$927 million. However, the underlying EBITDA of BHP Group Limited ASX showed a 5% increase, which accounts for US$13.9 billion. The underlying profit of the company remained relatively stable at US$6.6 billion. The fully franked interim dividend decreased by 20% and amounted to 72 US cents in response to these financial results.
BHP ASX Share Price During the First Half
BHP disclosed a 6% surge in revenue to US$27.2 billion for the six months. This accounting concluded on December 31, 2023. The uptick was attributed to increased iron ore and copper prices. It also involved significant contributions from new mines Prominent Hill and Carrapateena. However, the impact of weaker realized prices at New South Wales Energy Coal (NSWEC) partially offset these gains.
During the first half, BHP experienced a 5.4% increase in unit costs across significant assets. This reflected a combination of disciplined cost measures, reliable operational performance, and the normalization of commodity-linked consumable prices like diesel and acid.
Despite these factors, BHP’s underlying profit remained steady at US$6.6 billion. This accounted for around 129.6 US cents per share. The company’s profit further plummeted by 86% to US$927 million. This includes a US$2.5 billion impairment of Western Australia Nickel and a US$3.2 billion charge related to the Samarco dam failure.
Earlier Updates on BHP Group Limited ASX
BHP issued a cautionary note last week and signalled that its half-year results would bear the brunt of substantial impairments and charges. The Australian nickel division of the company faced a post-tax impairment of $US2.5 billion. Brazil’s Samarco iron ore assets also incurred an extra $US3.2 billion charges. This is directly tied to the catastrophic dam collapse in 2015
Shareholders associated with BHP Group Limited ASX are poised to receive an interim dividend of US72¢. This amounts to a substantial $US3.6 billion. The same dividend surpasses the anticipated US69¢ per share as projected by analysts surveyed by VUMA. However, it’s noteworthy that this falls short of the US90¢ interim dividend provided in the previous year. It signifies the lowest half-year payout to the mining company’s shareholders since February 2020.
About BHP Group Limited
BHP is one of the leading resource companies in the world. The company has its branches in more than 90 locations worldwide. Its mining products are sold globally. The company’s management has positioned its business to support the megatrends shaping the world. It mainly deals in iron ore and metallurgical coal for global infrastructure and energy transition services across different places.
