Financial results for the half year ended 31 December 2025
Operational excellence; strong margins, cash flows and growth; >50% of Group EBITDA from Copper
“We continue to prosecute our strategy of operational excellence, distinctive social value creation and growth in copper and potash. We have achieved ~30% growth in copper production in the last four years, positioning us ahead of the strengthening copper market that we had anticipated.
This half marks a milestone for BHP with Copper contributing the largest share of our overall earnings, at 51% of Underlying EBITDA.
BHP is the world’s largest copper producer and with strong performance at Escondida, and solid contributions from our other operations in Chile and South Australia, we have increased FY26 group copper guidance to 1.9 – 2.0 Mt. This is allowing us to maximise increased earnings from the recent run up in copper prices as well as gold.
With four compelling growth options across Chile, Argentina, Arizona and South Australia, we are well positioned to capture the forecast higher long term copper prices. We expect first production and revenue from the Jansen Stage 1 potash project in mid-CY27. Following completion of our definitive updated cost estimate, at our recent Operational Review we announced an increase in Jansen Stage 1 project expenditure to US$8.4 bn.
Our Western Australia iron ore business continues to deliver for shareholders. WAIO achieved record first half production and shipments and we further strengthened our position as the world’s lowest cost major iron ore producer. We continue to invest in this business. We are adding a sixth rail car dumper at Port Hedland so trains can unload faster, supporting an uplift in sustainable volumes to >305 Mt.
At a Group level, we again delivered a safe, reliable half, with resilient margins and cash flows that support disciplined investment and strong shareholder returns. Underlying EBITDA increased 25% to US$15.5 bn with an Underlying EBITDA margin of 58%. Underlying Attributable profit also increased by more than 20% to US$6.2 bn. Underlying ROCE increased by around 3 percentage points to circa 24%.
Consistently strong cash generation and balance sheet strength remain hallmarks of BHP. We generated US$9.4 bn in operating cash and finished the half with net debt of US$14.7 bn, comfortably around the midpoint of our US$10-20 bn target range.
We determined an interim dividend of US 73 cents per share, equivalent to a 60% payout ratio, reflecting strong operating performance, disciplined capital allocation and confidence in our outlook.
Today, we announced the most valuable silver streaming agreement ever relating to our share of Antamina’s future silver production, which follows the agreement in December relating to our share of WAIO’s inland power consumption. These are examples of our active approach to capital portfolio and asset management, improving our financial flexibility and unlocking value. Together, these agreements will unlock over US$6 bn of cash. We see the potential to unlock up to a total of US$10 bn.
Looking ahead we expect circa 3% global economic growth in CY26. China’s economy is resilient after meeting its around 5% target last year. India continues to outperform. We are optimistic that the economic backdrop is supportive for our key commodities. Against a structurally higher cost environment, these conditions reinforce the importance of productivity and cost discipline and play to the strengths of BHP’s low cost, diversified portfolio.
Our growth pipeline sets BHP apart, both from expansion of our existing Tier 1 assets and exciting greenfield projects like Jansen, Vicuña and Resolution, and will allow us to deliver resilient returns through the cycle.”
| Safety | Operational excellence |
| Maintaining strong safety performance | Operational records in copper and iron ore |
| Our High Potential Injury Frequency (HPIF)[i] declined 20% relative to H2 FY25 and is 67% lower now compared to HY20, demonstrating sustained, long-term improvement in safety performance. This has been driven by our continued investment in engineering controls, automation and expanding use of technology to identify hazards earlier and reduce risk exposure. Our safety performance is further enabled through the BHP Operating System (BOS). | We achieved record performance across many assets. At Escondida, record concentrator throughput underpinned strong production, even as grade declined. With our other copper assets also performing well, we have increased our FY26 Group copper production guidance, and Escondida’s FY27 production guidance. In iron ore, WAIO achieved record first half production and shipments, and record material mined, while strengthening our position as the lowest cost major iron ore producer globally.[ii] Group gold production increased, with record refined gold output at Copper SA (up 33%), while Group silver production increased 29%. |
| Financial results | Net cash tax paid |
| Attributable profit US$5.6 bn Up 28% HY25 US$4.4 bn | Net income tax and royalty-related taxation US$3.6 bn Up 5% HY25 US$3.4 bn |
| The significant increase in Attributable profit was driven by operational excellence and disciplined cost control, alongside average higher prices. Copper and Iron ore were standout performers with Underlying EBITDA margins[iii] of 66% and 62% respectively. The Copper segment (Copper) contributed >50% of Group Underlying EBITDAiii for the first time.[iv] | BHP continues to be one of the top three corporate taxpayers in Australia[v] and one of the largest in Chile. Our global adjusted effective tax rateiii remains elevated at 36.6% (HY25: 36.4%) and is 43.0% (HY25: 44.2%) once revenue and production-based royalties are included. |
| Investing in growth | Shareholder value |
| Capital and exploration expenditureiii US$5.3 bn Up 1% HY25 US$5.2 bn | Fully franked interim dividend US$0.73 per share 60% payout ratio |
| We are continuing to invest in our sector-leading pipeline of organic growth projects at Jansen, Escondida, Copper SA and WAIO, which we expect will help drive our attributable copper equivalent (CuEq) production growth to a CAGR of 3 – 4% between FY27 – FY35.[vi] | We have determined an interim dividend of US$3.7 bn, extending our track record of strong returns while also investing in growth. Including this dividend, we will have returned >US$110 bn to shareholders since the introduction of the Capital Allocation Framework in 2016. |