Australian multinational mining and metals company BHP achieved higher earnings, stronger cash flow and a materially stronger balance sheet for the year ended June 30, owing to a good operational performance, strong combined prices and tight cost control.

“Full-year 2026 was a strong year for BHP. We delivered record iron-ore production and shipments at West Australia Iron Ore (WAIO), about two-million tonnes of copper for a second year running and a stronger result in coal.

“We met or beat guidance across much of the portfolio and achieved industry-leading cost positions. This reliability, together with strong prices, drove a big lift in earnings with underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increasing to about $33-billion.

“As a result of this, alongside unlocking of capital from undervalued assets and investing in growth, net debt fell to below $9-billion, while returning substantial cash to shareholders through a final dividend of $0.99 a share, the largest in four years,” CEO Brandon Craig highlights.

The group recorded increases across its financial metrics in the period under review, with revenue up 15% to $58.8-billion, underlying Ebitda up 27% to $32.9-billion and net operating cash flow up 17% to $21.8-billion.

Net debt for the year was $8.7-billion.

BHP also delivered a stronger-than-expected dividend, with a fully franked final dividend of $0.99 apiece taking total full-year 2026 dividends to $1.72 apiece – the highest in four years and representing a payout ratio of 72%.

Copper is now the largest contributor to BHP’s group underlying Ebitda for the first time, with the commodity delivering record underlying Ebitda of $18.2-billion at a 70% margin.

“Copper is the engine that is driving BHP’s growth. For the first time, copper contributed more than half our underlying Ebitda and generated significant free cash flow, which means our copper growth is self-funding.

“We have a well-defined project pipeline across Chile, Australia and Argentina that can potentially lift copper production by around 40% by full-year 2035,” Craig acclaims, also highlighting anticipated increasing demand for the red metal.

BHP produced about two-million tonnes of copper for a second consecutive year, while its integrated iron-ore business WAIO achieved record production and shipments.

Gold, silver and uranium generated $4.5-billion of by-product revenue, an increase of 45% year-on-year.

BHP received $4.3-billion through the Antamina silver streaming transaction and a further $2-billion was agreed this month through the WAIO inland power partnership, while preserving the group’s copper exposure, infrastructure ownership and operational control, respectively.

Investment in growth continued, including $4.7-billion of copper capital and exploration expenditure, progress on the Escondida mine in Chile’s proposed new concentrator and the Jansen potash project in Canada’s Stage 1 reaching 84% completion.

In a media call outlining the results, Craig said the group is looking to build on the strong performance, with a “significant opportunity” perceived ahead.

“Our growth pipeline is substantial, and it is backed by what we see as significant long-term demand for the commodities that we produce. . . There are hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in electrification, AI, industrial capacity, energy security and, of course, food security. The materials we produce at BHP sit right at the heart of all of that,” he emphasised.