London 19/11/2015 - BHP Billiton's full-year profit slumped 52 percent because of weak commodity prices, the Australian mining company said.
While the company's total copper production was unchanged at 1.7 million tonnes in this period, copper revenue dropped $1.3 billion to $11.5 billion and underlying EBIT for 2015 dropped $1.3 billion to $3.4 billion.
Its full-year underlying attributable profit was $6.4 billion, while free cashflow fell 26 percent to $6.3 billion.
"In 2015, demand growth slowed and supply grew. This lowered commodity prices across the board," CEO Andrew Mackenzie said.
LME three-month copper is trading either side of $4,600 per tonne, around its lowest in more than six years.
BHP share prices have slumped amid the downturn - while it was last at 905.20p, this is down considerably from this time last year when it was trading at 1,625p.
"In the context of this challenging global economy, we have seen a significant drop in the share price of resource companies this year, including our own share price," chairman Jac Nasser said. "We are disappointed in our current share price performance. However, the resources business is cyclical."
"Our job is to concentrate on creating value through the cycles," he added. "Our focus, in terms of business strategy and shareholder value, is always on the long term. We have a unique portfolio of large, long-life, low-cost assets, combined with a strong balance sheet."
The near-term outlook hard to predict, Nasser added.
"With the world going through an extraordinary period, it is difficult to give a definitive view of where the global economy is heading in 2016," he said. "The major economies are going through transition. Geopolitical issues like those most recently seen in Europe and the Middle East are causing volatility and affecting confidence."
Still, over the longer term the company is driven by a "fundamental belief that as economies adjust, global growth will return to healthier levels", he said.
This growth will largely depend on the successful rebalancing of China to a consumption and services economy, recovery of growth in developing nations and a healthy US economy.
"As these events occur, incomes will increase and demand will grow, especially for metals and energy, our core products," Nasser said.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)