BHP Billiton comes out strong

Anglo-Australian commodities giant BHP Billiton posted its financial results for the six month ended December 31, 2016, on Tuesday, revealing an attributable profit of USD 3.2 billion.

The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization came out at USD 9.9 billion. It was also able to achieve a 23% year-on-year reduction in net debt to just over USD 20 billion.

Capital and exploration expenditure for the period was down 38% compared with 2015 to USD 2.7 billion. BHP said it aims to ramp up spending over the next two years, starting with USD 5.6 billion for the current financial year followed by USD 6.3 billion in 2018.

While the company’s overall revenue increased from USD 15.7 billion in 2015 to USD 18.8 billion over the final six months of 2016, the performance of BHP’s petroleum division was down 13% to USD 3.3 billion.

Hydrocarbons output was down too, falling 15% to 105.9 million boe. BHP Billiton’s production guidance for financial year 2017 sits at between 200 million and 210 million boe.