Market News MINING giant BHP Billiton has delivered Australia's biggest annual profit of more than $US23 billion and says there is more to come on the back of
Mining giant posts record $22b profit |
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The monster result prompted calls for the swift introduction of the mining tax to divert some profits back to Australians. BHP's profit lifted by 86 per cent to $US23.6 billion ($22.5 billion), while revenue rose 36 per cent to $US71.7 billion. The record result comes as the mining tax draft Bill, aimed at making resource companies cough up more of their profits, makes its way through Federal Parliament. But University of Queensland economics professor John Quiggin said the BHP results showed the Government should have stuck to its guns when it first mooted its super profits mining tax last year. "The mining companies during the campaign made it sound like the mining boom was a huge benefit to all Australians that we should all be grateful for," he said. "It is obvious now that it's not the case and, while any revenue shouldn't go to the steel industry specifically, we should be getting more of a return." The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union said the mining giant's profit came at the expense of investment in Australian jobs and communities. "There are healthy profits and then there are super profits," CFMEU national president Tony Maher said. "Mining giants like BHP love to spin their contribution to the national economy but they've demonstrated they have to be dragged kicking and screaming to pay their fair share." A new survey highlighted the growing gap between mining and non-resource firms. Dun & Bradstreet figures yesterday showed nearly 2900 companies failed in the three months to June, up 25 per cent on the previous period. D&B corporate affairs director Damian Karmelich said the results confirmed the clear split "between mining and the rest". BHP said the boom was also throwing up challenges, including skills shortages. There were about 1500 vacancies currently on offer across the company. Earlier this week, steel-maker BlueScope Steel announced it was scrapping 1000 jobs and BHP yesterday said it had set up an online job centre to take applications from BlueScope staff willing to work at its Queensland, NSW and Western Australian operations. BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers said longer-term growth would hinge on demand from emerging economies as OECD nations continued to struggle with high levels of debt. "Urbanisation and industrialisation of these populous (developing) nations . . . will provide strong long-term support for our products," he said.
Authors: mining - Yahoo! News Search Results |