BHP Billiton Limited (BHP) Share Price

BHP Company Profile

BHP Billiton Is The World's Largest Diversified Resources CompanyWe are distinguished from other resource companies by the combination of the quality of our assets; our deep inventory of growth projects; our customer-focussed marketing; our diversification across countries, commodities, and markets; and our petroleum business.As at 30 June, 2008 we had some 41,000 employees working in over 100 operations in 25 countries. Reflecting our aim to be a premier global company, we occupy significant positions in major commodity businesses, including aluminium, energy coal and metallurgical coal, copper, manganese, iron ore, uranium, nickel, silver and titanium minerals, and have substantial interests in oil, gas, liquefied natural gas and diamonds.The central tenet of the BHP Billiton business model is that its diversified portfolio of high quality assets provides stable cash flows and an enhanced capacity to drive growth. In FY2008, we generated revenue of US$59.5 billion, attributable profit (excluding exceptional items) of US$15.4 billion and net operating cash flow of US$18.2 billion.BHP Billiton was created through the Dual Listed Companies (DLC) merger of BHP Limited (now BHP Billiton Limited) and Billiton Plc (now BHP Billiton Plc), which was concluded on 29 June 2001.BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton Plc continue to exist as separate companies, but operate on a combined basis as BHP Billiton. The headquarters of BHP Billiton Limited, and the global headquarters of the combined BHP Billiton Group, are located in Melbourne, Australia. BHP Billiton Plc is located in London, United Kingdom. Both companies have identical boards of directors and are run by a unified management team. Shareholders in each company have equivalent economic and voting rights in the BHP Billiton Group as a whole.

Businesses

AluminiumBHP Billiton is the world's sixth largest producer of primary aluminium, with a total production capacity of approximately 1.3 million tonnes of aluminium, approximately 15.6 million tonnes of bauxite and 4.5 million tonnes of alumina per annum. We are one of the world's largest non-integrated producers of primary aluminium.Our network of operations services a global customer base, with sites in South America, Southern Africa and Australia. In addition we have marketing offices around the world.

Iron OreBHP Billiton Iron Ore currently has operations in Western Australia and Brazil. Its Australian Iron Ore assets are based in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.BHP Billiton Iron Ore is one of the world’s premier suppliers of iron ore, employing 8 000 people across the Pilbara - around 18 per cent of the region’s total population. The Company’s operations involve a complex integrated system of seven mines, more than 1,000km of rail and two separate port facilities.

Energy CoalBHP Billiton is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of export thermal coal.Our global portfolio of high-quality, long-life operations, together with our marketing model, ensures that we are able to provide customers with packages of products and services that meet their needs. In addition to our seaborne supply into the Atlantic and Pacific markets, we service domestic markets in South Africa, Australia and the US.Metallurgical CoalBHP Billiton Metallurgical Coal is the largest global supplier of seaborne traded hard coking coal. We primarily produce and market high quality hard coking coals for the international steel industry. In addition, we supply a wide range of other coal qualities to satisfy specific customer requirements.Production is from our low cost asset base located in Queensland (predominantly open cut mines owned in an alliance with Mitsubishi Corporation) and New South Wales (100 per cent owned underground operations). Stainless Steel MaterialsBHP Billiton is the world's third largest nickel producer.Stainless Steel Materials primarily services the stainless steel industry through its wide range of high quality nickel products. In addition, we supply nickel and cobalt to other markets including the specialty alloy, foundry, chemicals, and refractory material industries.

Base MetalsBHP Billiton is one of the world's top producers of copper, silver, lead and uranium, and a leading producer of zinc. We provide base metal concentrates to custom smelters and copper cathodes to rod and brass mills and casting plants and uranium oxide to power utilities. We aim to become the pre-eminent supplier in base metals through capacity expansions, reliable supply and innovative solutions.We have an excellent portfolio of large, low-cost mining operations with substantial growth opportunities. We have a number of expansion opportunities — both greenfield (new sites) and brownfield (developments on existing sites) — which are sufficient to allow us to expand copper production significantly through various projects.Diamonds & Specialty ProductsThe cornerstone of BHP Billiton’s Diamonds business is the EKATI Diamond Mine, of which we own 80 per cent. EKATI is located in the Canada’s Northwest Territories and produces approximately four million carats of rough diamonds annually. Annual sales from EKATI (including minority shares) represent around three per cent of current world rough diamond supply by weight and six per cent by value. We sell most of our rough diamonds to international diamond buyers through our Antwerp sales office. We sell up to 10 per cent of our rough diamonds to two Canadian manufacturers, and we sell both polished and rough diamonds directly to jewellers. We sell polished diamonds, manufactured through contract polishing arrangements, through our CanadaMark™ and AURIAS ™ brands.ManganeseWith approximately 4500 employees across five operations in Australia and South Africa, BHP Billiton Manganese is the world’s largest integrated producer of manganese units and is ranked number one in the world in seaborne supply of manganese ore and in the top three global producers of alloy.Some 80 per cent of the Company’s products are exported to alloyers and steelmakers across the globe. The key markets for ore are China, Japan, South Korea, India and the EU, while the key markets for alloy are North America, EU, Japan and the Middle East.PetroleumHP Billiton is the world’s largest diversified natural resources company. The Company has approximately 39,000 employees working in more than 100 operations in 25 countries across the world. Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, the Group has primary listings on the Australian and London Stock Exchanges. Our business model is based on customer-oriented groupings called Customer Sector Groups (CSGs). Each CSG is a substantial business in its own right, and several are leaders in their respective fields. The CSGs are Petroleum, Aluminium, Base Metals, Diamonds and Specialty Products, Stainless Steel Materials, Iron Ore, Manganese, Metallurgical Coal and Energy Coal.

 

Our Structure

BHP Billiton is a Dual Listed Company (DLC) comprising BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton Plc. The two entities continue to exist as separate companies, but operate as a combined group known as BHP Billiton.

BHP Billiton was created through the DLC merger of BHP Limited (now BHP Billiton Limited) and Billiton Plc (now BHP Billiton Plc), which was concluded on 29 June 2001.

The headquarters of BHP Billiton Limited, and the global headquarters of the combined BHP Billiton Group, are located in Melbourne, Australia. BHP Billiton Plc is located in London, United Kingdom. Both companies have identical boards of directors and are run by a unified management team. Shareholders in each company have equivalent economic and voting rights in the BHP Billiton Group as a whole.

The DLC structure maintains pre-existing primary listings on the Australian Stock Exchange (through BHP Billiton Limited) and London Stock Exchange (through BHP Billiton Plc), along with a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (through BHP Billiton Plc) and American Depositary Receipts listings on the New York Stock Exchange.

Organisation

In addition to our headquarters in Melbourne and our presence in London, BHP Billiton also has corporate centres in Johannesburg, South Africa and Houston, USA.

Our organisation is designed around Customer Sector Groups (CSGs), which are focused on customers, rather than operations. These CSGs are supported by finance, development, legal and marketing (including transport and logistics) functions.

Our CSGs are

Aluminium Base Metals Diamonds and Specialty Products Energy Coal Iron Ore Manganese Metallurgical Coal Petroleum Stainless Steel Materials

History

BHP Billiton has outstanding credentials

We were formed from a merger between two highly complementary companies — BHP and Billiton. Both were great businesses, with rich and varied histories.

Our past success gives us enormous confidence and determination to prosper and grow our company.

BHP Billiton: a great partnership

We value our heritage. We're proud of the organisations from which we've come and the accomplishments we've achieved.

The businesses that helped enrich our culture and broaden our company scope are:

BHP, a leading global natural resources company, with a diversified commodity suite that included minerals, oil, gas and steel. One of Australia's oldest and largest companies, it was renowned for continuously developing new operations both domestically and internationally. It was also recognised as one of Australia's great companies.

Billiton, one of the world's premier mining companies, with a portfolio of best-in-class mining and metals operations. Via acquisitions, expansions and new projects, it was known for its innovation and disciplined cost-efficiency in the global mining sector.

By building on our pasts and combining the assets of each company with the very best of our skills and people, we have created a company that is ideally placed to lead the resources industry into the future.

Our Approach To Sustainability

For BHP Billiton, sustainable development is about ensuring our business remains viable and contributes lasting benefits to society through the consideration of social, environmental, ethical and economic aspects in all that we do.Working through complex operational issues associated with our operations has highlighted environmental and social performance as a critical success factor for the Company. We are well aware of the costs of getting it wrong; but more importantly, we recognise the value that can be created by getting it right. Consequently, we adopt a holistic approach to business strategy, seeking to realise value for our stakeholders through a sustainable business philosophy.Line managers have ultimate accountability for ensuring our businesses contribute to sustainable development and move towards our aspirational goal of Zero Harm. This is implemented through a number of processes, such as our HSEC Management Standards and our Code of Business Conduct.

Our VisionOur vision for sustainable development is to be the company of choice — creating sustainable value for shareholders, employees, contractors, suppliers, customers, business partners and host communities. Central to our vision is our aspirational goal of Zero Harm to people, our host communities and the environment.Zero Harm means:

We aspire to create a workplace that is injury, illness and incident free. We seek to adopt a precautionary approach to minimise and, where possible, eliminate our environmental impacts over time.

Company of choice means:

Being selected by shareholders as a valued investment, based on strong financial performance and sound governance processes. Being preferred by employees for providing a safe, healthy and equitable workplace and caring about the communities in which we live. Being preferred by the communities in which we operate for our contribution to sustainable community wellbeing. Being preferred by our business partners — customers, suppliers, contractors, governments and joint venture partners — as a committed and reliable partner in delivering sustainable value.

Our emphasis on sustainable value means we have the willingness to invest for the future while ensuring we deliver value in the shorter term.

Our StrategyBHP Billiton is the world's largest diversified resources company. Our aim is to be diversified in terms of our markets and countries of operation, and this enhances the stability of our cash flows and capacity to invest and grow throughout the business and commodity price cycles. This stability also enables us to take a longer-term, precautionary approach to all aspects of our business, including financial, social and environmental perspectives, improving our ability to deliver value for all our key stakeholders.Our sustainable development strategy comprises two dimensions – the business dimension and the sustainability dimension – that together contribute to bottom-line performance.

Business DimensionThe business dimension represents traditional contributors to a financially successful and competitive business, recognising that without a profitable business we are unable to contribute to the broader goals of sustainability. This dimension includes:

Business excellence and customer focus. Portfolio diversity. Deep inventory of growth projects across all Customer Sector Groups, including greenfield and brownfield projects, as well as appropriate merger and acquisition activities. Quality, long-life assets.

Sustainability DimensionOur bottom line performance is, however, dependent upon ensuring access to resources and gaining and maintaining a licence to operate and grow. Maximising bottom line performance is about recognising the value protection and value add to be achieved through performance in non-financial dimensions - or sustainability dimensions, such as:

Aspiring towards Zero Harm to people, our host communities and the environment. Ensuring effective governance and risk management processes are in place to ensure a precautionary approach is taken to achieving business outcomes. Recognising the need to be socially responsible and contribute to sustainable community development. Ensuring broader economic contributions in the regions where we operate.

Working with business partnersOur Sustainable Development Vision and Strategy are underpinned by our Sustainable Development Policy and HSEC Management Standards, which are applied to BHP Billiton sites and operations throughout the world. These include:

Majority owned and/or operated and controlled facilities and activities (from exploration and planning through to closure and rehabilitation). Development projects, mergers, acquisitions and divestments. Activities by contractors on BHP Billiton sites or under BHP Billiton management (including construction activities prior to hand-over).

Where BHP Billiton does not have operational responsibility but has an equity stake, or where significant BHP Billiton assets are involved, we make all reasonable efforts to promote our approach and make our HSEC Management Standards available to the operator, so that comparable HSEC Management Standards may be applied. The resolution of conflicts presented by the implementation of these Standards must be consistent with the principles of the BHP Billiton Charter.