BHP Billiton Net Soars 72%; Gloucester Coal Net Jumps 36%, CSL Net Falls 19%

Marcus Jacob
16 Feb, 2011
New York City

Australian stocks closed nearly unchanged and the dollar edged lower. BHP Billiton first half net soared 71.5% to $10.5 billion on 39% increase in sales. The blood plasma maker CSL net declined 19%. Gloucester Coal net soared 36%.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney – Australian stocks closed nearly unchanged and the dollar edged lower. BHP Billiton first half net soared 71.5% to $10.5 billion on 39% increase in sales. The blood plasma maker CSL net declined 19%. Gloucester Coal net soared 36%.[/R]

The ASX 200 index fell 0.8 to 4,930.20 and the broader All Ordinaries index edged lower 0.8 to 5,018.60. Of the 2.85 billion stocks worth $5.44 billion traded, 589 closed higher, 604 declined and 367 were unchanged.

The Australian dollar fell to US$0.9997.

BHP Billiton Net Surges 71%

BHP Billiton sales in the first half to December rose 39% to US$34.2 billion and net income soared 71.5% to US$10.5 billion.

Earnings per share increased 71.5% to US$1.89 from US$1.10 in the prior year six months period. BHP raised the interim period dividend to 46 cents a share from 42 cents in the prior year period.

The operating earnings in the period rose 60% to US$17.3 billion and operating cash flow of US$12.2 billion. The company also said it plans to spend US$80 billion in the next five years and will buy back US$10 billion of its shares.

Western Australia iron ore shipments increased to annualized 148 million tons a year in the quarter to December.

Westfield Swings to Profit

Westfield Group swung to a net profit in 2010 of $1.1 billion compared to a loss of $458 million in the prior year.

The shopping mall operator said its Australia based shopping centers recorded retail sales increase of 0.4% and New Zealand sales were up 0.4%.

Sales at U.S. based properties rose 6.1% and at UK based properties rose 18.8%. London based shopping center recorded sales of 870 million pounds.

The operating profit at the shopping center group declined 1.5% to $2.06 billion and net profit of $1.14 billion included $736 million in property portfolio gains.

The company is in the middle of $4.2 billion of projects and is expected to spend $900 million by June 2012.

The company estimated net earnings of 74.6 cents and dividend of 48.4 cents in the current year.

Stock Movers

BHP Billiton declined 77 cents or 1.6% to $46.59 after the company announced to buy back US$10 billion of its shares and Rio Tinto rose 2 cents to $88.16.

Gloucester Coal declined 11 cents to $12.41 after first half net rose 28%.

The Australia-based coking and thermal coal company’s half-year ended December 2010 revenue increased to $137.5 million compared to $103.7 million from same period of year ago.

Net profit in the period rose to $23.2 million from $18.1 million and earnings per share declined to 20.8 cents compared to 22.1 cents from a year ago period.

CSL declined 49 cents to $37.02 after the blood products and vaccine maker said first half net declined 19%. Revenues fell to $2.2 billion from $2.42 billion in the period a year ago and net declined to $500.2 million from $617.4 million a year ago.

Banks closed higher. ANZ rose 23 cents to $25.71 and NAB added 15 cents to $26.33. Commonwealth Bank added 54 cents to $53.84 and Westpac gained 3 cents to $24.34.

Westfield declined 10 cents to $9.82 after it swung to annual profit of $1.1 billion on restructuring.