About Us
BHP Billiton is the world's largest diversified resources company. The Company aims 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 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 Profile
We have around 38,000 employees working in more than 100 operations and offices in some 25 countries. Read more: BHP Billiton Locations Map (PDF 88 Kb)
The central tenet of the BHP Billiton business model is that its diversified portfolio of high-quality assets provides more stable cash flows and greater capacity to drive growth than the traditional resource cyclicals. In 2006, we generated revenue of US$39.1 billion, underlying earnings before interest and tax (underlying EBIT) of US$15.3 billion, attributable profit excluding exceptional items of US$10.2 billion and available cash flow after interest and tax of US$10.5 billion. As at 30 June 2006 our market capitalisation was US$123 billion.
Our shareholder base is widely diversified, with approximately 58 per cent of shares held in Australia and Asia, 33 per cent in the UK and Europe, and 9 per cent in Africa.
Our key markets downstream are refiners and processors of raw material, for example, steelworks, smelters, petroleum refiners, thermal power stations and diamond cutters. For a summary of the various uses for our products, read Our Resources at Work (PDF 116 Kb).
During the year we sold our Tintaya copper mine in Peru and entered into an agreement for the sale of Southern Cross Fertilisers Pty Ltd (SCF). On 21 June we also announced the agreement to sell our Australian coal bed methane (CBM) interests; the sale was completed on 21 August 2006 and is effective 1 January 2006.
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.
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. Each of the CSGs is a substantial business in its own right, and several are leaders in their respective fields. They have autonomy to optimise their businesses, with clear accountabilities.
| CSG |
Business Activity |
Annual attributable volumes of production for significant commodities |
Sustainability Performance 2005/06 |
|---|---|---|---|
Aluminium
|
mining of bauxite, refining to alumina and smelting to produce aluminium |
1.4 million tonnes of aluminium 4.2 million tonnes of alumina |
Read more: Our Performance>Customer Sector Group Overview>Aluminium |
Base Metals |
mining of copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver and uranium, processing of copper and uranium oxide |
1.3 million tonnes of copper
|
Read more: Our Performance>Customer Sector Group Overview>Base Metals |
| Carbon Steel Materials
|
mining and processing of iron ore, mining of metallurgical coal and mining and smelting of manganese |
97.1 million tonnes of iron ore 35.6 million tonnes of metallurgical coal 5.3 million tonnes of manganese ore 0.7 million tonnes of manganese alloy |
Read more: Our Performance>Customer Sector Group Overview>Carbon Steel Materials |
Diamonds and Specialty Products |
mining and processing of diamonds and titanium minerals, exploration and technology, production of high-analysis fertiliser |
2.6 million carats of diamonds |
Read more: Our Performance>Customer Sector Group Overview>Diamonds and Specialty Products |
Energy Coal |
mining of thermal coal |
85.8 million tonnes of thermal coal |
Read more: Our Performance>Customer Sector Group Overview>Energy Coal |
Petroleum |
onshore and offshore processing of oil, gas, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas |
45.9 million barrels of crude oil and condensate 360.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas |
Read more: Our Performance>Customer Sector Group Overview>Petroleum |
Stainless Steel Materials |
mining and processing of nickel and cobalt |
0.2 million tonnes of nickel. |
Read more: Our Performance>Customer Sector Group Overview>Stainless Steel Materials |
