“(Share) unification will simplify BHP’s structure, make it easier for the company to make equity-based acquisitions, and make it easier for other corporate restructurings, including the Petroleum/Woodside merger,” Jefferies analysts said in a note.
The group plans to sell its petroleum assets to Woodside Petroleum Ltd, creating a new, bigger petroleum company to better navigate the energy transition and give shareholders greater choice in how they manage their fossil fuels exposure, Chief Executive Mike Henry said.
The deal will give BHP shareholders a 48% stake in the new company.
Jansen is expected to produce 4.35 million tonnes of potash per year from 2027
“We (will also) create a better ability to allocate capital within BHP towards investments longer-term … in future-facing commodities and support for more returns to shareholders,” Henry said.
BHP’s London-listed shares surged nearly 10% after its results.
The miner’s Australia-listed shares have climbed more than a fifth this year as it posted record iron ore output and earned more than double per tonne for the steel-making ingredient.
After unifying its shares, BHP will retain a secondary listing in London, where stocks have traditionally traded at a deep discount to Australian stocks.
Iron ore prices have hit record highs supported by Beijing’s infrastructure push, although a resurgence of covid-19 cases in China and its vow to lower emissions by curbing steel output is expected to be a drag on the commodity.
BHP’s underlying profit for fiscal 2021 rose to $17.08 billion, but slightly missed a consensus of $17.46 billion compiled by Vuma.
The miner will pay $2 per share as a final dividend, totalling $10.1 billion, bringing the total payout for the year to $3.01 a share, or $15.2 billion.
BHP said it was going ahead with its Jansen potash project, which is expected to cost $5.7 billion in the first phase, offering the company a route to growth in new “future-facing commodities”.
The miner took a $1.3 billion charge for existing infrastructure spending on its potash asset, which analysts said could make it more attractive to any potential partner.
“Giving the go-ahead to Jansen is not enough, they should do much more,” said a top 20 investor who declined to be named. “They should create a partnership with Nutrien Ltd and even take it over.”
The Canadian potash major is seen as an ideal partner to dilute BHP’s risk and development costs. BHP says it is open to but not in need of a partner, while Nutrien has said that any tie-up with BHP is not its focus.
Jansen is expected to produce 4.35 million tonnes of potash per year from 2027. Potash is a key element in plant nutrition that also makes crops more drought-resistant.
On a call following the results, CEO Henry said BHP remains committed to its high-quality steel-making coal business which it expects to grow with infrastructure needs supporting the energy transition, even as the company looks to exit thermal coal.
BHP took an impairment charge of $1.70 billion in fiscal 2021 related to rehabilitation and mine planning at its thermal coal assets for which a sales process is still underway.
($1 = 1.3717 Australian dollars)
(By Melanie Burton, Nikhil Kurian Nainan, Anushka Trivedi and Clara Denina; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Susan Fenton)
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
