BHP declares record final dividend as underlying profit soars
Melbourne — Global miner BHP posted a 33% jump in annual underlying profit on Tuesday on robust oil and copper prices and paid a record final dividend, although it pushed out the timing for some future cost savings. The world’s biggest miner, which has been focusing on simplifying its business and driving returns to shareholders, said it expected the strong momentum to continue into the medium term. BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie reiterated, however, that the miner was "a little more apprehensive" on the short-term outlook, given the trade ructions between China and the US. "We’ve said … that we’re a little bit more apprehensive about the short-term, but longer term, we still see a lot of strong demand for our products," he told reporters. "And in the meantime we continue to work our productivity so that we can retain margins even in the face of maybe some input inflation and possibly lower prices." For the year to end-June, underlying profit, which excludes one-time gains and losses, ros...
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