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Highlights
  • In H1 FY24, BHP recorded a 6.0% revenue increase, driven by higher volume of copper and iron ore sale
  • The company’s underlying EBITDA improved by 5%, and net operating cash flow surged by 31% in H1 FY24
  • BHP successfully divested Blackwater and Daunia mines to Whitehaven Coal for USD 2.0 bn in cash
  • On 28 March 2024, BHP paid an interim dividend of US 72 cents per share

BHP Group Ltd (LSE: BHP) is an FTSE-listed resources company. Based in Australia, the company is a producer of commodities, including copper, iron ore, potash, nickel, and metallurgical (steelmaking) coal. Its segments include Iron Ore, Copper, and Coal. The company has a market cap of GBP 119,547.82mn.

In the first half of fiscal year 2024, the company saw a 6.0% rise in revenue, reaching USD 27,232 million compared to USD 25,713 million in H1FY23. This increase was attributed to enhanced sales of Copper and Iron ore, and was supported by higher production levels and growing demand during the period. Additionally, the underlying EBITDA showed a 5% improvement, and the net operating cash flow surged by 31% in H1 FY24.

Recent business update

Recently (02 Apr 2024), the company announced completing the sale of Blackwater and Daunia mines to Whitehaven Coal. Whitehaven Coal paid USD 2.0 bn cash consideration to BHP and Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd (MDP).

 On 28 March 2024, the company paid an interim dividend of US 72 cents per share, with a total value of USD 3.6 bn, almost 56% of the payout ratio. This brings the annualized dividend yield of BHP to approx. 7.41% as per the closing of the stock price on 23 April 2024.

Q3FY24 Production Update

In Q3FY24, BHP's production of copper improved by 15% to 465.9 kt as compared to Q3FY23. Its overall production inched higher by 10% to 1,360.3 kt for the nine months of FY24 as compared to pcp, on account of higher operational performance at Copper South Australia. Also, the Energy Coal--NSWEC--production improved by 23.5% to 11.6 Mt in the nine months of FY24 as compared to pcp.

Company outlook

For FY24, the company’s overall copper production guidance is between 1,720 and 1,910 kt, and iron ore production is estimated to range from 254 Mt to 264.5 Mt. Nickel production is likely to be in the range of 77 kt to 87 kt and metallurgical coal could vary between 21.5 Mt and 22.5 Mt.

Top 10 shareholders

The collective shareholding of the top 10 shareholders amounts to approximately 20.17% of the total shares in the company. The Vanguard Group, Inc. possesses the largest shareholding, accounting for around 5.36% of the shares, while BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. holds approximately 3.18%, as illustrated in the chart provided:

Stock performance

 BHP’s stock price has dipped by ~3.02% in the last three months and over the last six months, it has surged by ~1.54%. The stock’s 52-week low and high stand at GBX 2,157.00 & 2,722.00, respectively. Currently, it is trading below the average of 52-week high-low.

Note 1: Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

Note 2: The reference data for all price data, currency, technical indicators, support, and resistance levels is 23 April 2024. The reference data in this report has been partly sourced from EODHD/Others.