Record half year financial results. Underlying EBITDA up 42% to US$8.0 billion and
underlying EBIT up 43% to US$6.7 billion.
• Attributable profit up 48% to US$4.4 billion.
• Underlying EBIT margin increased to 42% and solid Return on Capital Employed at 31%.
• Record half year production volumes for aluminium, copper, nickel and LNG.
• Five major growth projects approved. The current project pipeline, consisting of
projects in execution or in feasibility, now includes 25 projects, comprising US$14.4
billion of investments.
• Integration of WMC Resources Ltd (WMC) completed ahead of schedule.
• Interim dividend of 17.5 US cents per share, an increase of 30% on the prior period interim dividend.
• US$2 billion Capital Management initiative announced.

Commentary on the Group Interim Results
Introduction
The first half of the 2006 financial year generated a strong result for BHP Billiton and today we have announced the fifth consecutive half year of record results for the Group. Attributable profit was US$4.4 billion, which is an increase of 47.8% over the same period last year. The consistent focus on the
optimisation and growth of our portfolio of world class assets, combined with our unique customer centric marketing structure has positioned the company to actively participate in the current strong demand and price environment for our commodities. Half year operational records were also accomplished, with record production achieved for four major and two minor commodities.
Our strategy of investing throughout the cycle in sustainable, value creating growth continued, with five additional major growth projects approved in the period. These projects have an expected spend of US$2.9 billion, bringing our total project pipeline to US$14.4 billion of investment. (This includes 18
projects currently under development totalling US$8.9 billion.) Each of these projects has been subject to our rigorous evaluation and approval process to ensure they will return value to our shareholders, regardless of global economic conditions. However, we continue to be faced with industry challenges in the delivery of these projects to budget. These challenges include shortages of skilled labour, construction and drilling plant and machinery, and currency strength against the US dollar. All of these have led to
rising input costs.
These pressures have also added significantly to operating costs. However, increased commodity prices and volumes, along with the continuation of our business excellence programme, has led to a Group Underlying EBIT margin and Return on Capital Employed of 41.9% and 31.2% respectively.
Integration of the WMC assets was completed during the period and the target for cost efficiencies (of A$115 million per annum) was exceeded. Record half year production was achieved at both the Nickel West and Southern Cross Fertiliser operations (both Australia), while drilling continues at Olympic Dam
(Australia) in advance of the proposed expansion.

Dividend and Capital Management
The Board today declared an interim dividend of 17.5 US cents per share. This follows on from the rebasing of the dividend in February 2005 from 9.5 US cents per share to 13.5 US cents per share.
Today’s declared dividend is an increase of 3.0 US cents per share (20.7%) over last year’s final dividend of 14.5 US cents per share, or up 29.6% year on year. The interim dividend has increased by 118.8% (from 8.0 to 17.5 US cents per share) over the past 2 years, reflecting the strength of the underlying cash flows of the business, the continued strong pricing environment and confidence in our ability to consistently deliver earnings and cash flow to support this higher level of dividend going forward. We intend to continue with our progressive dividend policy, with further increases dependent upon the expectations for future investment opportunities and market conditions at the time of declaration.
We also intend to return a further US$2.0 billion to shareholders over the next 18 months through a series of share buy-backs. As outlined today in a separate announcement, this will commence immediately with an off-market buy-back of approximately A$1.5 billion (US$1.1billion) in BHP Billiton Limited shares. This will be followed at a later stage by on-market purchases, most likely of BHP Billiton Plc shares, using the balance of the US$2.0 billion not used in the off-market buy-back.
Today’s announcement follows on from last year’s US$2.0 billion capital management initiative and is consistent with our practice of returning surplus capital to shareholders where appropriate, and in a form that maximises the overall value to the Group and its shareholders. The Board remains committed to
demonstrating strong capital discipline while ensuring BHP Billiton is able to finance its significant pipeline of growth opportunities regardless of short term commodity price movements. At the conclusion of this initiative, BHP Billiton will have returned US$11.4 billion to shareholders since June 2001.

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