TIDMBHP
RNS Number : 9180F
BHP Group Limited
10 November 2022
Release Time IMMEDIATE
Date 10 November 2022
Number 36/22
To London Stock Exchange
BHP annual general meeting 2022 speeches and presentation
The following documents are attached and will be presented at
the 2022 Annual General Meeting of BHP Group Limited to be held
today:
1. Chair address
2. CEO address
In addition, the AGM presentation is available via BHP's website
at: https://www.bhp.com/investors/presentations-events/meetings and
has been submitted to the FCA National Storage Mechanism and will
shortly be available for inspection at:
https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism
Authorised for lodgement by:
Stefanie Wilkinson
Group Company Secretary
Media Relations Investor Relations
Email: media.relations@bhp.com Email: investor.relations@bhp.com
Australia and Asia Australia and Asia
Gabrielle Notley Dinesh Bishop
Tel: +61 3 9609 3830 Mobile: +61 407 033 909
Mobile: +61 411 071 715
Europe, Middle East and Africa
Europe, Middle East and Africa James Bell
Neil Burrows Tel: +44 2078 027 144
Tel: +44 20 7802 7484 Mobile: +44 7961 636 432
Mobile: +44 7786 661 683
Americas
Americas Monica Nettleton
Renata Fernandez Mobile: +1 (416) 518-6293
Tel: +56 9 8229 5357
BHP Group Limited ABN 49 004
028 077
LEI WZE1WSENV6JSZFK0JC28
Registered in Australia
Registered Office: Level 18,
171 Collins Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia
Tel +61 1300 55 4757 Fax +61
3 9609 3015
BHP Group is headquartered
in Australia
Follow us on social media
Ken MacKenzie, Chair
In January, at our General Meeting, I commented that BHP was in
a strong position.
The 2022 financial year results - delivered in a challenging
climate of uncertainty and change - demonstrate that strength.
I would like to take this opportunity to explain why we believe
your company is well positioned today, and more importantly the key
elements we are working on to ensure BHP is well positioned for
tomorrow, namely:
-- Our approach to safety, culture and capability,
-- Our portfolio positioning for the future,
-- Our continued capital discipline, and
-- Our focus on social value.
Safety and culture
I want to begin with safety because it has been, and will
continue to be, our number one priority.
2022 marked another fatality-free year for BHP.
That means your company has gone more than three-and-a-half
years without a workplace fatality.
Our safety indicators have continued to improve.
For instance, we experienced fewer High Potential Incidents
-which are those that could cause significant injury or
fatality.
But we are not just focused on operational safety.
Our commitment to safety extends to the total elimination of
sexual harassment, racism and bullying in BHP workplaces.
That is why I want to apologise to all those who have
experienced or continue to experience, any form of sexual
harassment, racism or bullying anywhere at BHP.
We are determined to eliminate these harmful behaviours.
At BHP, we are committed to providing a safe, inclusive, and
supportive workplace culture where everyone can bring the best of
themselves to work.
Although we are making progress in these areas, we know we have
a lot more to do.
An essential global role
We recognize the important contribution BHP can make both within
our industry and to global economic development.
BHP has supplied the resources the world needs for almost 140
years.
Over that period, as the world has changed, BHP has continually
adapted, to keep supplying essential commodities, safely,
efficiently, and sustainably.
Your Board and management team are the stewards of this
successful history.
Our collective responsibility is to plan and prepare for the
future of BHP - with the next 140 years in mind.
This means we need to plan and prepare for the long-term because
mines are long-life investments with a substantial upfront capital
commitment that can positively transform the regions in which they
are established.
Positioning for the future
This is why positioning the portfolio for the future is so
important.
This is a very different company to what it was when we gathered
virtually a year ago.
It is a company fundamentally repositioned - and better
positioned - for the future.
In the past year, BHP has:
-- Unified our corporate structure, becoming simpler, more efficient, and more agile;
-- We have merged our petroleum business with Woodside - and, in
the process, created a top-10 independent energy provider and given
BHP shareholders further choice about their investment in oil and
gas;
-- We simplified our coal portfolio to focus on higher-quality
metallurgical coal used for steel making; and
-- finally, we approved the investment in our new Jansen potash mine in Canada.
Potash is a new commodity for BHP which has the potential to
deliver value for a century or more.
The changes we have made across BHP align your company with the
megatrends of decarbonisation, population growth, and demand for
higher standards of living.
According to our modelling, to deliver our Paris-aligned
1.5-degree scenario, the demand for copper, nickel and steel will
grow to enable the infrastructure and products required for the
energy transition.
Our portfolio has some of the best assets in the world to meet
this increase in demand.
-- WAIO - is the lowest-cost major iron ore business in the
world, and one of the lowest emission intensity iron ore
operations.(1)
-- Escondida - is the largest copper mine in the world, with the largest copper endowment.
-- Nickel West - holds the second-largest nickel sulphide
endowment, and, again, has one of the lowest production emission
intensities.
-- While our metallurgical coal business, BMA, is one of the
world's premier suppliers of higher-quality metallurgical coal for
steelmaking.
-- The Jansen Potash Project is also expected to be one of the
world's largest, and lowest cost potash mines when it comes into
production.
Managing uncertainty
While we are well positioned for the future, we also spent 2022
navigating significant uncertainty.
The short-term outlook is complex:
-- The geopolitical landscape continues to change;
-- Economic conditions remain uncertain;
-- There are ongoing labour and skills shortages; and
-- Countries are emerging from the impact of the global pandemic at different paces
Strong financial performance
Despite the challenging environment, your company delivered
strong operational and financial results in 2022.
Our financial performance included:
-- Record EBITDA of US$40.6 billion - up 16 per cent.
-- Free cash flow of US$25.2 billion - up 30 per cent.
-- Return on capital employed of 48.7 per cent.
-- And a further strengthening of our balance sheet with net debt at less than US $400 million.
These results are due to the extraordinary efforts of all the
people at BHP and to the leadership of Mike Henry and his
management team.
This performance enabled the Board to declare a total dividend
of US$3.25 per share, bringing BHP's cash returns to shareholders
for the year to a record US$16.4 billion.
(1) BHP's iron ore emissions intensity curve is based on CY2021
data estimates from Skarn Associates for seaborne iron ore
operations. For more information see page 45 of the BHP Annual
Report 2022.
We also distributed a further US$19.6 billion in value as an
in-specie dividend through the merger of our Petroleum business
with Woodside.
Combined, that's US$36 billion in value returned to shareholders
in 2022.
And this is just one part of BHP's total economic contribution,
which is a measure of the financial value we create through our
employment, taxes and royalties, payments to our suppliers,
community contributions and, yes, dividends to shareholders.
In the last financial year, our global economic contribution
topped US$78 billion and this includes over US$57 billion in
Australia... with BHP paying close to 10 per cent of all corporate
tax in Australia.
Social value
Our Total Economic Contribution is important because it relates
to BHP's focus on long term shareholder value and social value.
In June, we released our new Social Value Framework.
This Framework spells out our priorities and approach to social
value creation - and sets targets and goals for 2030 in the vital
areas of:
-- decarbonisation,
-- the environment,
-- Indigenous partnerships,
-- workforce,
-- communities, and
-- supply chains.
Our approach is deliberate and proactive - measuring the social
and financial impact of our choices - and it is delivering tangible
outcomes.
For example:
-- We have reduced operational greenhouse gas emissions by 24
per cent from our base line year - and we are on track to achieve
our goal of at least a 30 per cent reduction by FY2030;
-- We have reduced our freshwater withdrawals by nearly 30 per cent on our baseline year; and
-- We have increased female participation in our workforce to 33
per cent, up from 17 per cent in 2016 - which was the year we set
our aspirational goal of gender balance by FY2025.
And today we are also releasing our revised Global Indigenous
Peoples Policy.
Our revised Policy is based on consultation with Indigenous
Peoples, global stakeholders and employees.
This Policy Statement sets out our commitment to respecting
Indigenous Peoples' rights, listening to their voices and
perspectives and embedding that knowledge into how we work in
partnership to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.
This focus on partnership and mutual benefit is crucial to our
business as our operations are often on or near the traditional
lands of Indigenous Peoples. I am delighted to announce this next
step in strengthening our approach.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I want to come back to the strength of your
company.
Our position - as demonstrated in the 2022 financial year
results - is a credit to the efforts of thousands of BHP people
over the past year.
Our success is the product of their relentless focus on safety,
culture and capability, the positioning of our portfolio, capital
discipline and social value.
Our success is also a credit to the support of our stakeholders.
With that in mind, I want to thank you, our shareholders, for your
continued support and for investing in the future of BHP. It is now
my pleasure to invite your CEO Mike Henry to speak with you.
Thank you.
Mike Henry, Chief Executive Officer
Thanks Ken. It really is great that we can once again hold this
event in person and to see so many faces in the audience.
This was a big year for BHP. A safe and successful year.
Successful in terms of performance - both operational and financial
- and in terms of our strategic transformation to better position
the company for the future.
As Ken has touched on, we reshaped our portfolio, increasing our
relative exposure to businesses that will generate greater
long-term value and returns for shareholders.
We unified our corporate structure. We are more agile, efficient
and profitable.
We set out our Climate Transition Action Plan, which received
strong support from shareholders, and our Social Value Framework -
which goes to how we will ensure we maximise the value we create
with and for the various stakeholders who support or rely upon
BHP.
All of this was achieved in the face of significant challenges
in our operating environment - high inflation, tight labour
markets, ongoing Covid impacts, disrupted supply chains, and the
war in Ukraine.
This was only possible with the incredible combined effort of
80,000 employees and contractors across BHP, and I really do want
to thank them for their hard work and commitment.
The combined megatrends of global decarbonisation,
electrification, population growth and increasing living standards
are going to mean even greater demand for many metals and
minerals.
Being positioned to ride the tide of global trends like these is
part of what has enabled BHP value growth historically.
We are continuing this track record of transforming BHP to meet
the needs of the world.
We are positioning BHP at the centre of the opportunity these
megatrends present.
I'll speak more about this shortly, but first, I'd like to
mention some highlights from the last financial year.
Financial highlights
We continued to deliver strong operational and financial
performance, and delivered a number of performance records.
We achieved record shipments from our iron ore business here in
Western Australia for the third year running.
In copper, Escondida in Chile had record material mined and
near-record concentrator throughput, while Olympic Dam in South
Australia performed strongly after planned smelter maintenance.
The Olympic Dam asset is showing much better operational
reliability in recent years, reflecting the investments we have
made over the past five years in asset integrity and on building
capability.
Our reliable operational performance enabled us to capture
maximum benefit from high commodity prices, and deliver strong
financial results, including record returns to shareholders, and
contributions to governments.
Our results demonstrate the positive momentum we have built over
a number of years.
I hope our ability to consistently deliver financially and
operationally - in parallel with the transformative changes we are
making to set BHP up for a bright future - is a source of
confidence for you, our shareholders.
At the heart of our resilient, strong results and of our ability
to grow value lies our people and our culture.
We have invested and continue to invest significant effort in
making BHP a better, more inclusive place to work. A place that is
more creative and agile. Where people look out for one another. And
where we are able to tap into the ingenuity, motivation and
discretionary effort of our teams.
It is not a coincidence that our safety and operational
performance has improved hand-in-hand with this focus on culture
and the strong progress we have made in achieving a more
gender-balanced workforce.
We have increased female participation from 17% to 33% over the
past six years - and we have increased Indigenous and First Nations
employment to now represent more than 8% of our operational
workforce in Australia and in Chile, and more than 7% in our Jansen
Potash Project in Canada.
We have also increased the proportion of the workforce with
permanent jobs in Australia by almost 60 per cent since 2017,
adding more than 10,000 permanent jobs.
The combination of culture and capability provides us with
enduring competitive advantage, allowing us to operate more safely,
to reduce our impact on the environment, and to generate higher
value from our assets.
Notwithstanding how far we have come, it is not yet far
enough.
We have not yet been successful in stopping damaging behaviour
in BHP sites and villages - this includes sexual harassment, racism
and bullying.
I am deeply sorry and apologise to those who have experienced,
or continue to experience, any form of sexual harassment, racism or
bullying anywhere at BHP.
I am fiercely determined to do everything I can to stop this
conduct.
I speak on behalf of the whole of the senior management team in
this regard.
We are continuing to take action. In the past year, we have
spent more than US$200 million in upgrades to security at
accommodation villages, with faster progress constrained only by
the supply chain's ability to keep up with us.
We have enhanced our training programs, including for both
leaders and bystanders, and we have established and improved our
support services.
I know we have more to do and this is a priority that is
reflected in my and our team's performance measures.
Like with sexual harassment, two years ago we took the decision
to elevate all claims of racism to our most serious category of
investigation under our Ethics Point process, and more recently we
have stood up a specific dedicated effort to stamp out racism
across BHP.
Eight months ago I asked Vandita Pant to lead this effort at an
executive level and in the period since employees and contractors
across ten locations and eight countries have participated in
sessions where we have been able to hear about their
experiences.
A dedicated project management office has also been established
to progress our work towards eliminating this behaviour and
ensuring an environment in which people from all backgrounds can
thrive.
As I said, people are the heart of our business and we must
provide a safe, inclusive and supportive workplace that engages and
empowers everyone, every day.
A key means of truly empowering our people is the BHP Operating
System - this is our proprietary way of working that creates a
culture and capability where we make continuous improvement central
to everyone's role.
The BHP Operating System is giving people throughout BHP both
the license and the tools to bring their knowledge to bear in
identifying and locking in new and better ways of doing things.
Our Centres of Excellence encourage deep technical capability,
allow us to bring in best practice from other industries, and
enable faster deployment of improvement ideas across our
business.
When we combine these with the power of data, we accelerate
improvements across our value chain - from the geoscience required
in exploration through to the marketing of our products.
The BHP Operating System supported the delivery of over $1.3
billion in savings and efficiencies in the last financial year.
And we are continuing to grow the talent needed to support us to
meet our goals, through initiatives such as our FutureFit Academy,
in Perth and Mackay.
We are committed to training 2500 apprentices and trainees
through the Academy with an investment of $300 million over five
years.
Across issues of safety, of culture and of capability, we are
driving BHP forward - and we're also working to be stronger and
better partners to those around us.
Engaging with communities
Given that the timelines of our investments are measured in
decades and our operations can be near and part of communities for
a hundred years or more - we must be open and collaborative in our
dealings with our stakeholders.
We need to be true partners with the full range of stakeholders
we work with and rely upon for our success.
This sort of open engagement was integral to the development of
the Social Value Framework we announced in June, along with our new
2030 scorecard which stretches our ambitions and provides a more
sophisticated way to measure performance.
Our new framework further embeds social value into our thinking,
planning and performance, helping us work with others to create
better outcomes.
It includes a new 2030 goal of having at least 30% of the area
of land and water we steward under conservation, improved land
management and restoration, working in partnership with Indigenous
peoples and local communities.
To give some perspective on the scale of this goal - 30% of the
land and water that we steward is around two million hectares, or
half the size of Switzerland.
And as part of our goal to pursue net zero scope three emissions
by 2050 we've progressed partnerships with some of the world's
biggest steelmakers, representing close to one-fifth of global
production.
Our customer partnerships will help advance the green transition
of the steel industry through the development of low-carbon
steelmaking technologies, and their future application at plant
scale.
We also have, through our ventures work, a number of investments
in emerging breakthrough technologies focused on carbon free
steelmaking.
Our portfolio and growth
We have made significant changes this year to reshape our
business with a portfolio more aligned to the global megatrends
unfolding around us, so we are better positioned to grow value as
demand for our commodities grows.
We have five levers available to grow value for
shareholders:
-- Operational excellence and improved productivity; getting
better at what we do, every day. This is priority number one and is
the lever most within our control.
-- Then it is organic growth: getting more out of the incredible resources we have.
-- Thirdly is exploration: finding new resources and potential growth projects globally.
-- Then comes early-stage entry: getting in on the ground floor
with potential Tier 1 deposits, found by others, but not yet
developed. Where BHP can bring its capabilities and balance sheet
to bear in a positive way.
-- And finally, acquisitions: the right assets, at the right
time and at the right value. Always with the discipline to ensure
we are creating further value for shareholders.
I have already spoken about our efforts to become more
productive.
On the organic growth front:
-- We've accelerated studies to unlock more copper at Escondida,
including a concentrator strategy and leaching opportunities, and
we're studying two-stage smelting at Olympic Dam and progressing
drilling at Oak Dam.
-- At Nickel West, we already have the second largest nickel
sulphide resource globally, and we've increased exploration spend
over the next two years on highly prospective areas.
-- We are also increasing our output at Western Australian Iron
Ore to 300Mtpa+, with studies underway for a 330Mtpa option.
-- And Stage 1 of the Jansen Potash project in Canada, where we
are looking to bring forward production into 2026, and have already
commenced studies for Stage 2.
We are building our suite of options in future facing
commodities to ensure the Group is well placed in five to ten
years' time.
Board departures
Before I conclude, I would like to reiterate Ken's thanks to our
two departing directors.
I am pleased that both Malcolm and John are leaving at a time
when BHP is seeing improved safety, operational performance,
stronger growth, and increased trust from our shareholders.
Both Malcolm and John have been tireless advocates for exactly
these things in their time as BHP Directors.
Thank-you both and I hope you'll be able to look back with some
pride on what you have helped to create.
Conclusion
In conclusion, over recent years, BHP has delivered a strong
track record of disciplined allocation of capital and operational
excellence - returning profits to shareholders while reinvesting in
the business.
Our portfolio, our people and our processes are built for
enduring success.
We are confident the fundamentals of decarbonisation, population
growth, rising living standards and urbanisation will drive demand
for the commodities in our reshaped portfolio for decades into the
future.
BHP will continue to provide the commodities the world needs and
deliver value for our stakeholders. With your support, we will help
build a better future.
Thank you.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
AGMURSARUWUAARA
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 10, 2022 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
Bhp Billiton (LSE:0HN3)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Bhp Billiton (LSE:0HN3)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024