Sydney — Mining giant BHP Billiton rewarded shareholders with a bigger-than-expected payout on Tuesday, reflecting a growing confidence across the sector as rising commodity prices delivered a cash windfall. BHP and other miners are basking in a welcome surge in commodity prices on the back of a renewed appetite in China for imported raw materials, with iron-ore prices climbing more than 80% in 2016 and coal up as much as 300%. However, BHP CE Andrew Mackenzie said the company’s focus was still on paying down debt, highlighting an uncertain economic and political outlook. “We preferred, on balance, most of it [extra cash] to go towards the strengthening of our balance sheet,” Mackenzie said. “But we were very keen to signal to our shareholders our commitment to strong cash returns.” BHP’s underlying first-half net profit galloped nearly eight-fold to $3.24bn from $412m a year earlier, just missing market forecasts for $3.4bn. It declared a first-half dividend of 40c, up from 16c a y...
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