BHP Group Limited (BHP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, everyone. Welcome to BHP's online information session for shareholders. I'm Gab Notley, and I'm joined virtually today by our Chief Executive, Mike Henry; and David Lamont, our Chief Financial Officer. We're not able to run this session face to face due to COVID-19 restrictions, and Mike is actually in quarantine. So a very special thanks to you, Mike, for joining us. It won't stop us getting through some great questions that shareholders have sent through, and we look forward to getting through some of those shortly. And a big thank you to all of our shareholders for your ongoing interest and for sending in some questions, some really great questions, and thanks very much for your ongoing support of BHP.

Let's get started with our results. Mike, perhaps if you could just give us your highlights of the 2021 financial year.

Well, thanks, Gab, and welcome, everybody. I'll just start by saying we had a very strong year. We've delivered some great results across BHP. Our operations were very reliable. And most importantly, we've now had 2.5 years without a fatality on BHP's sites. We were also more productive throughout the course of the year. In addition to the great results, we've announced a series of steps that are intended to help set BHP up for the future for decades to come. And I'm going to come to those in a second, but they involve our portfolio and our corporate structure. Now these changes are going to help us grow value for you, our shareholders, well into the future by ensuring that we have a portfolio that's comprised of the commodities that are going to help the world continue to grow and to decarbonize. Now our operational performance for the year was excellent. We set several new production records, and we delivered 4 major capital projects on time and on budget, which was a real feat given the context we've been dealing with COVID. Now all of that is thanks to 80,000 people across BHP in the way that they've stepped up as well as the support of many others outside of BHP, and this includes our business partners, our customers, our communities and the governments where we operate. Now this combination of strong performance and strong markets has helped to unlock the financial performance that is then pulled through to this record final dividend that we've announced at USD 2 per share, and that's going to be paid on September 21. That's when it will land in your bank accounts. So you should be very happy, I hope, with the results for the past year and with this record final dividend. Back to you, Gab.

Mike, just on the other announcements that you spoke to at the same time as results, can you summarize what they are and perhaps what they mean for BHP and for our shareholders?

So Gab, of course, happy to talk to these 3 big announcements. But just before I do that, I really do want to highlight that it all starts with the base business. So the base business is running really well currently. That is because the business -- base business is running as well as it is, that gives us the stability then upon which we can make some of these bigger steps that will set BHP up for the future for decades to come. And if I just touch on the 3 of those. The first one is a USD 5.7 billion investment in a new Potash mine in Canada. This is the Jansen Stage 1 project. Potash is a commodity that we're really excited about. We think it has many of the attributes that we see with some other BHP commodities in terms of strong underlying fundamentals. This project is going to not only give us healthy returns for the project itself, but it's going to open up a new front for future growth for BHP, and this is a future-facing commodity. Second big thing that we've announced is the intent to -- or an agreement to create the world top 10 global independent exploration and production company by merging our petroleum assets with Woodside. This is going to create a company that will be more resilient, is going to have lots of upside potential and will be better able to navigate the energy transition. BHP shareholders are going to receive 48% in that new company. Finally, we've announced our intent to restructure the corporate structure of BHP by unifying our 2 current primary listings. So we have one in London, one in Australia. We're going to be unifying under an Australian primary listing, but we're going to maintain secondary listings in London, in Johannesburg and in the United States. Now that change in structure, the simplification of BHP's corporate structure, is going to make us more agile, more efficient and is going to ensure that BHP is more competitive in the decades to come. Back to you, Gab.

Thanks, Mike. It's a lot of big news and shareholders have sent in a lot of questions about some of those announcements. So it's really helpful for you to just give us a little snapshot now. Before we get to the questions, David, I'd love to get your take on the year just gone and maybe some of the important financial and performance measures that you'd call out.

Thanks, Gab. It's certainly been an exciting first 9 months back with the company, and it's great to be able to share some very strong numbers with our shareholders. The record final dividend brings BHP's return to shareholders to in excess of USD 15 billion for the full 2021 financial year, a payout ratio of some 89% and more than USD 38 billion over the past 3 years. We've also been investing in the business, successfully delivering 4 major development projects, including our Spence copper project in Chile and the new South Flank high-quality iron ore mine in Western Australia. That's really good news for our future production. Financially, we generated a record free cash flow of some USD 19.4 billion, and our return on capital employed strengthened to over 32%. Our balance sheet is strong, and we ended the year with a net debt of just over USD 4 billion. So overall, financially, we are in very good shape and set up well for the future.

Great news. Let me move now to some of our questions. And actually, picking up on your comments around the dividend, our first question is from Pamela. She is obviously an Australian shareholder. She's asked, what does USD 2 mean in Australian currency? Mike, maybe you can take that one.

Sure. Well, look great and very natural question, Pamela. So thank you for that. I'd like to start with talking a little bit about why we declare our dividends in U.S. dollars. BHP, your company, is a global company. We have shareholders all around the world. And therefore, we do want to be able to top our dividend in a single currency terms. And of course, the commodities that we sell, the vast majority of the revenue that we get for those commodities is also priced in U.S. dollars. But apologies for leaving it to you and others to do the currency conversion. In Australian dollar terms, it depends a little bit on the exchange rate on the day that the exchange gets determined. In this case, that's September 6. But we expect at this point that it's going to be above -- somewhere between AUD 2.70 and AUD 2.80 for the final dividend. And of course, as I said earlier, the dividend is going to be paid out on September 21. So that's when you can expect to see it flowing into your bank account. And for all of our Australian shareholders, one other thing that I know will be near and dear to -- or is near and dear to our hearts is franking. The dividend will, of course, be fully franked. It's been a strong year, and that set us up well for this record final dividend. Thanks for the question, Pamela.

And moving from Australia to Canada, Stephen asks, congratulations on your decision to move forward with Jansen Potash in Saskatchewan. Will you update us on the project time line and milestones? And secondly, why is Potash worth such a big investment for BHP?

Okay. Gab, I'll actually take those questions in reverse order. So I'll start with why is Potash worth the investment. We like Potash. This is a commodity that -- well, first of all, I should probably start with what Potash is for. It is a fertilizer. It's 1 of the 3 primary fertilizers, and it helps to -- or it supports higher yield and more sustainable farm. And as the world's population grows, there's going to be a need for more food, not need for more food, coupled with the need for more sustainable agricultural practices and maybe some more agricultural product for biofuels to help the world decarbonize. We think all points to a strong demand outlook for Potash, and there's things about the supply side in Potash we like as well. So a really attractive commodity. We're proceeding with Jansen Stage 1, as you know, and thanks for the congratulations. We're certainly happy to have taken the decision. Jansen Stage 1 in its own right is a project that's going to deliver healthy returns to you, our shareholders. Importantly, it also opens up a new front for growth for BHP in what -- as I said, is an exciting new commodity.

Thanks, Mike. David, maybe if you take this one, it's also on Potash. This is from Peter. He says, the project has an internal rate of return of only 12% to 14%, but much lower of past costs are included. Why is this a better project than progressing our oil and gas investments?

Thanks, Peter, for the question. Let me start by saying, as Mike has already mentioned, that the Jansen Stage 1 stands on the time typically. It will have robust returns. And certainly, the 12% to 14% internal rate of return is a very healthy position given that it is a brownfield expansion and has optionality beyond that. We've been clear, though, from the start that if we had a blank sheet of paper on Jansen, our new mine, we would have done things differently in the past. But we expect Jansen to generate strong cash flows, which will contribute to our ability to pay future dividends. Our expectation on forward forecast is that it will have an EBITDA margin of some 70%. It is also expected that the mine will pay back in 7 years for when it actually starts producing in 2027, and it will have a 2-year ramp-up and then be into full production. So the second part of your question, Peter, was in relation to the petroleum business. And let me start by saying that we still think the petroleum business is a good business. It is our view, however, that it does have strong foundations and that hasn't changed. But we believe the decision may unlock further value for our shareholders. Certainly, if you look at the industry dynamics for oil and gas, scale is going to be more important moving forward to help the energy transition. The merged business with Woodside will be more resilient, stronger and increase investment options available to it. And so that merged entity will have the benefit of that significant scale from day 1. It has a current production of around 200 million barrels of oil equivalents per year, a portfolio of assets with greater diversification by product, by geography and end market use, and it also has attractive value creation through more than USD 400 million of synergies. And it will continue to have a focus on sustainable operations, carbon management and ESG leadership.

Mike, some shareholders have actually asked, why not combine our petroleum assets with Woodside under BHP? Could you have a go at addressing that?

Sure. Well, look, I'll pick up on one of the references that David just made around industry dynamics. So probably the first reason is that we think that given the particular dynamics of the oil and gas industry and the energy transition that's underway, that companies in that sector are going to -- whether that -- those industry dynamics have certain implications for the strategies the company in that sector will adopt versus the mining sector, in particular, the mining sector as it relates to those quantities that are heading for the future. And because of the different strategies between the 2 sectors, we did believe that it was probably better to separate minerals and petroleum. The second reason it comes back to, to capital investment, which has already arisen, I think it was in the previous question. Within the BHP portfolio, we are very focused on creating a long-term portfolio that is positively leveraged to the big trends that are underway around this. So population growth, electrification, decarbonization and so on. And what we would face going forward with petroleum remaining in the portfolio was an increasing tension between the amount of capital being invested in oil and gas, as David said, we see it as attractive for the foreseeable future. But it would be competing with capital that we'd be investing for the long or very long term in some other minerals commodities. So again, for capital allocation reasons, we believe it was better for these 2 businesses to stand alone. And then the final thing that we're cognizant of is that there is growing divergence in views between different shareholders on holding oil and gas. And of course, this separation, in addition to all the positive things that David spoke about in terms of it being a stronger company, in terms of creating extra value for shareholders, it will also give shareholders a choice. And those shareholders who wish to remain in Woodside, and we hope and believe that, that will be the majority of current shareholders, will, of course, realize that upside value. But for those shareholders who don't wish to, this provides a choice that otherwise wouldn't exist.

Just on that, Mike, some shareholders have been wondering why the share price has dropped recently. Some of them are saying they think it might be a reflection on our decision to exit oil and gas or others are asking, is that a reflection of the value of the site shares? Maybe, David, I could ask you to address that first.

Yes. Thanks, Gab. Certainly, since our announcements, we have seen some volatility in our share price. We think there's a range of things playing out as part of that. The first and, we think, the biggest factor in our share price recent decline has been the steep decline in the iron ore price. This has also hit a number of our competitors and other iron ore-producing peers, and that's a good reference point for shareholders. But clearly, we also made 4 very big announcements last week, including the strong results, and we do understand that it will take some time for the market to fully understand the changes that we've outlined but, as we have said, we think set the company up for the long term. And finally, today, it does mark the point that our shares will trade ex dividend, and so that will also be playing out in the market today. With that, I'll hand back to you, Gab.

Mike, is there anything else that you'd like to add on the share price at the moment?

No, I think David covered it well. On the specific question around the Woodside merger, as David and I have both spoken to you, this is creating greater value for shareholders in our view, including through the synergies that David mentioned of $400 million and through having this stronger, more resilient top 10 global independent exploration and production company. So I'm pretty sure that, that is understood and recognized by most shareholders.

And on the petroleum decision, Simon has asked, is -- are you getting out of our petroleum assets because it's a fossil fuel? And secondly and related, I guess, is that how else is BHP lowering emissions at the moment? Mike, can I ask you to take that one?

Sure. Well, thanks, Simon. And on the first question about the reasons we're getting out of oil and gas or merging with Woodside, it's exactly what I said earlier. We think this creates greater value for shareholders and it also has other benefits in terms of the 2 strategies that we'll be pursuing minerals versus oil and gas and so on. So that's the reason for the decision to merge with Woodside. Your question though about what we're doing to reduce emissions, great question. This is something that BHP has been focused on for 3 decades now. It was back in the 1990s when we first started calling out climate change as an issue that needed to be addressed and started our own efforts to track and then reduce BHP's emissions profile. And that's why we're at the very good end of the spectrum currently in terms of our operational emissions. These are what are known as Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. And in respect to those emissions, we made a further commitment last year to reduce them by another 30% by 2030, and we believe that, that's going to require about $2 billion to $4 billion in capital to get there. That will be in the back half -- weighted towards the back half of this decade. In addition to Scope 1 and Scope 2, we also have Scope 3 emissions, and these are the emissions that arise in the shipping of BHP's products or the use of those products by our customers. So it's the emissions that get generated by our customers. We're also leaning into that because those emissions are much larger than operational emissions, and we've created -- or entered into, in the past year, 3 big partnerships with some of the world's leading steelmakers, so covering 10% of global steel production, where we're working with them to help them reduce emissions in their steelmaking processes. In addition to that, we've been at the leading edge of innovation in the maritime industry, where we've been working with shipowners and others to reduce emissions in the shipping of products, BHP's products globally. An example of this is the world's very first tender for LNG-fueled bulk carriers, the big ships that carry our ore. These are -- until now are generally fueled by bunker fuel. So it's a higher emitting fuel. By moving to LNG, we'll see a significant reduction in the emissions footprint of shipping. Since we've done that, we've seen others replicating that approach. The other thing that we've done is -- done recently is held a trial of biofuels in shipping. So it's an alternative fuel for powering these big vessels, which provides another avenue for carbon production. So I hope you can see that right from the start of our production process through the downstream efforts of our customers, we are really engaged in helping to decarbonize our value chains, a lot further to go. We've made some significant strides to date, and there's a lot of activity underway currently.

It's certainly a fast-moving topic, and it's great to hear that update. I wanted to turn now to a number of questions that we've actually received about the mechanics of unification. Perhaps I'll read a couple of them, and we can address them together. The first is, how is unification going to take place? Will it mean that a shareholder of BHP on the London Stock Exchange gets a share in BHP listed on the Australian Stock Exchange? And then is it free for the cost -- is it free of cost for the London Stock Exchange BHP shareholders? Will -- under unified BHP, will there be 2 classes of shares? How will the changes occur? And will the exchange be by the number of shares held or by the value of shares? Maybe, David, if you could address the mechanics, and then we could go to Mike for the reasons behind unification.

Yes, certainly, Gab, and thanks for the questions. To be clear, what we will do is we'll exchange PLC shares. So these are the ones that are traded in the U.K. for limited shares on a one-for-one exchange to transition to a unified register. You won't have to pay brokerage on any of that exchange. So shareholders will still own the same number of shares. The difference is that under the unified structure, you will own limited shares and not PLC shares. Then you will be able to trade those limited shares on the London Stock Exchange still in pound sterling, and you'll still receive your dividend payment in pound sterling, too. This share exchange only affects the PLC shareholders. If you're a limited shareholder, you already own and hold the limited stock and you'll be able to retain your shareholding. So you don't need to do anything. The limited shares will also be available to be traded in Australia, in London, in Johannesburg and New York Stock Exchange. And remember, we will still be able to pay a fully franked dividend. There is still a number of steps that we need to walk through before we can do the unification, and there will be documentation that will be forwarded out to all shareholders outlining this as well. It is our expectation that we should be able to do this in the first quarter of calendar year 2022. To help you and keep you informed, we have set up a dedicated page on our website, bhp.com\unify. And I'd ask you to go to that. And equally, we'll keep you informed as things progress through our normal communication channels and also at the AGM coming up. So with that, I might pass back over to you, Mike.

Sure, David. Well, thanks. And I think it would be worthwhile just touching on why unification and why now, and I'll start with a bit of the history. The structure that we have with a primary listing in London and the primary listing in Australia all started 20 years ago. It's quite an unusual structure, but it started as a result of the merger at the time between BHP and Billiton. We had about 40% of the profit of the company being generated under the -- into these sort of companies that sat under the London structure and about 60% under the Australian structure. But for various reasons in the period since then, things have changed, and we now have less than 5% of the profit being generated on the PLC side of the business, the bulk of the profit being generated on the Australian side of the business. And as we've said many times before, we would prefer to have a simpler, cleaner, more efficient structure that would also enable us to be more agile, but we always have to consider the cost in implementing a change like that. And up until now, the costs have been quite steep. However, in recent years, we've seen those costs fall by about USD 1.2 billion to the point where now costs are as low as practically possible other than variations in share price. And because costs have been worked down to the lowest practically possible level. And given the strong preference for ensuring that we do have an efficient structure, one that does make us more agile and more competitive for the decades to come, we determined that now is the time to progress with unification, of course, subject to the final decision. But we believe that the rationale there is strong, and it's something that's going to help set the BHP for the decades to come, and it's going to be good for all of us as shareholders in this company.

Richard asks that won't unification cause BHP to drop out of the FTSE 100 and that will reduce our share price? And amongst other things, due particularly to tracker funds, no longer needing to own BHP shares? Maybe, David, can you address Richard's questions?

Yes. Thanks, Gab, and thanks, Richard, for your question. So those firstly, that are perhaps unfamiliar with this, the FTSE 100 is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalization. To be on the list, though, you must be recognized as a U.K. company. Now under unification, BHP PLC will sit underneath BHP Limited, which is incorporated in Australia. So we will no longer have the listed company, BHP Limited, recognized as a U.K. company. Now we have been in discussion with the FTSE 100 Russell, and they have confirmed that as a consequence of that, we will actually step out of that FTSE 100 Index. Importantly, as I said earlier, shareholders will still be able to trade on the London Stock Exchange, and we will have a standard listing on the LSE. This will -- we do understand, will cause some people to have to sell their shares because of their own internal trading rules. But we do hope that as many shareholders of PLC will still hold BHP Limited stock through the London Stock Exchange stand listing that we will have in place. And I would have to say that through the enlarged BHP Group we'll have more shares traded on the ASX. And so there may well be some Australian index buying occurring as a result of the reweighting within the Australian indexes.

Turning to William, who is interested in BHP's strategy. He says that he believes strongly in the company's long-term ability to grow investor returns in the long term. He says, can you explain the financial advantages of BHP going forward? He believes that traders don't understand the strategy long term, and that's not fair to investors like him.

Well, thank you, William, for your belief in the company. I'd like to start with a comment on that point you made about creators. And I assume that, that's born out of some of the early volatility that we saw in share price after the announcement a couple of weeks ago. And David has explained earlier in this conversation what we believe has driven that. So we do see it as being short-term volatility and that there's broad recognition amongst market participants how the steps that we're taking -- the strong underlying performance and the steps that we're taking here are really setting BHP up quite well for the future. Now if I come back to your question around the value generation within BHP and what the value proposition is for shareholders. In owning a share in BHP, you own a share in a company that has the best of the best assets out there into really attractive commodities. So these are commodities that are leveraged or increasingly leveraged towards the big trends that are underway in the world around us. And just like we saw over the past couple of decades, as growth took off in China, that resulted in much stronger iron ore demand in these great margins that we've seen in iron ore, shareholders have benefited from that. The other commodities of the BHP's portfolio as well are leveraged to or increasingly leveraged to some of the other big themes that are playing out, like decarbonization, ongoing population growth, electrification and so on. And that's a big part of what we announced a couple of weeks ago was continuing to move the portfolio in that direction. The other thing that shareholders get is a commitment and capability to high performance, high operational performance. So we ensure we're getting the best returns for every shareholder and all that invested in this business. And that gets coupled in with capital discipline and a very clear way of thinking about and approaching capital allocation. So where we -- what we do with the profits that get generated in BHP, how much gets reinvested in the business for what reasons and, of course, how we then think about returns back to shareholders. So that combination of strong underlying portfolio, strong operations and capital discipline and clarity of our approach to capital allocation, we think, is a pretty strong proposition for shareholders. And others, keeping in mind that another big area of focus for us is social value, which is ensuring that as we create great value and returns for shareholders, that we're also creating value for others that depend on or support BHP as well.

Thanks, Mike. Moving to some of the reaction from some of the professional markets. S&P placed BHP on notice for a downgrade that would -- as a result of the planned petroleum divestment. Would a downgrade affect BHP's financing costs in the foreseeable future? Maybe David, that's one for you.

Yes. Thanks, Gab. As I said at the start, the company and the balance sheet has never been stronger. So we're in a very strong financial position. It's important to note that the position taken by S&P is not a downgrade, but they have put us on credit watch. And their concern is the divergence that we actually see. And are we more diversified? Or has the diversification risk escalated as a result of petroleum announcement? Importantly, I would also just point people to the other major agencies, credit agencies in both Finch and/or so Moody's, which have actually said they think the move is a positive for our overall credit outlook. So next steps for us is to work with S&P. We are engaging with them, and we will be reminding them of the company strategy, the long-term value of the decisions that we've made, the quality of the assets that we actually have and the leading industry positions that we have, the low positions that we have on the cost curves, most importantly, also the lowest iron ore cost producer and also the fact that we operate in stable jurisdictions and have a track record of good operating practices as well. So we're at the starting gate, if you like, with S&P to work that through with them. But certainly, as I said, we are in the strongest financial position that we've ever been in.

Adrian has also picked up on the S&P credit watch and diversification. He says, what are BHP's plans to ensure that it will still be diversified enough and not so dependent on iron ore post the spinoff of the oil assets? And he also asks, will this affect BHP's future return of capital to shareholders? Mike, maybe that's one that you can address.

Well, look, thanks, Adrian. And I will just reiterate some of the points that David made around the company being in a really strong shape currently. And we believe that the announcements we made a couple of weeks ago are going to put BHP in an even better position. Now on your question of diversification, we're not -- of course, we've enjoyed the fruits of a very strong iron ore business and strong demand for that commodity currently. But in addition to that business, we have one of the world's biggest copper businesses with the best assets. We have the world's best metallurgical coal business, which sells into a much more diversified set of markets than iron ore does. We have a nickel business. We're the world's fourth-largest producer of Class 1 nickel, which is a sort of nickel that is best suited to the battery market. And in fact, in recent years, we've moved to selling about 85% of our product to that -- to that market. That's a growing business for us. So iron ore, copper, metallurgical coal, nickel and soon to be Potash, with the investment that we announced a couple of weeks in the Jansen Stage 1 Potash project in Canada, really effective commodity, offers a new front for growth for the company, albeit it doesn't come on for another 6 years. But if we look to that medium-term horizon, we certainly see that, that's going to add not just great returns on a stand-alone basis, but will also help us diversify markets and operating jurisdictions and so on. I just had a little bit more.

And just on different commodities, this question from Oliver, Mike, is what are your current plans in Ecuador? And are you looking for new acquisitions in the copper space particularly?

Well, thanks, Oliver, and I've spoken quite a number of times about future-facing commodities and this being an area that we want to build off a strong base on. So we already have strong exposures in things like nickel and copper and soon Potash, but we are looking to grow even further in nickel and copper. I would just remind everybody on this call that in copper, we do expect to see copper growth over the next 5 years already in our business because of the Spence growth project that was brought on last year, some increasing production out of Escondida, more stable, a higher production that have been picked down with potential for further debottlenecking there. But we want to go further because we see the long-term dynamics for copper being very strong and the same with nickel. How are we going to go about doing that? First and foremost, we have more exploration work underway. That includes in Ecuador, where we have teams on the ground progressing greenfields exploration. But in addition to exploration, we are also looking towards targeted investment to fund projects that are still in the development phase but where we believe that there's further value upside. And you've seen us do that with the SolGold opportunity in Ecuador as well as the Elliott opportunity in Australia. So this combination of exploration, these targeted early-stage investments, some innovation to see if we can unlock more of the resources that we already have through better technologies and smarter minds, but all of those will contribute to our long-term ability to go roll copper and nickel production.

And a similar question from Morris. Morris asks, does BHP have any investment in lithium or other battery metals? Mike, maybe I can hand that on to you as well.

Sure. So in terms of battery metals, of course, our nickel position is a battery metal, and we believe it's the most attractive of the commodities for battery production. The short answer to your question is, no, we don't have investments in the other battery metals, but that's by choice. BHP is -- we see ourselves as being quite thoughtful about considering which commodities we want to be in. We look to things like the overall market size, the long-term demand dynamics, whether there's assets of sufficient scale and where we can generate the really strong margins that we all like about the current portfolio or not, and we believe in the battery metals. The only one that meets that intersect of scale and margin potential is nickel. And so that's been the focus for growth for us. We have expanded our nickel resources and reserves in the past couple of years to underpin future growth in Nickel West and potentially further afield. We currently have an offer out in -- public offer out for a company called Noront Resources in Canada supported by the Board. We see that as being an attractive opportunity. And of course, we continue to pursue other exploration and other opportunities elsewhere. Thanks, Gab.

Thank you, Mike, and thank you, David. We're really right up against time now. I feel like shareholders have taken you both around the world and through a lot of important decisions that BHP is making for the future. And shareholders are taking a great deal of interest, and we'll do so in the coming months. Before I do let you go, Mike, is there anything that you would like to say to close the session today?

Thanks, Gab. The -- look, one of the risks, of course, is as we look to the future, as we take some of these steps, the intended steps that we've announced a couple of weeks ago, is that we lose sight of one of the really big announcements and that was the underlying business performance. The business has performed just so well. I couldn't be more pleased over things in the past year, including a very strong safety performance but for shareholders as well. The fact that the underlying operations and financials have performed so well and that we've been able to declare a USD 2 dividend to all of you and in the case of Australian shareholders that being fully franked. So I do want to call that out, which -- and that creates the foundation in to do these other things that we believe are setting BHP up for decades to come. BHP is going to be a more efficient, more agile or a competitive company with greater exposure to future-facing commodities. And these are the commodities that the world is going to need more of as the population grows, as the global economy continues to grow and as we see collective action to address climate change through decarbonization. So Gab, great current performance and strong moves to set BHP up for decades to come. And that's going to allow us to continue to grow shareholder value and returns.

It's a nice place to finish. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, David, and thanks to all of our shareholders for your ongoing interest. We've covered a lot of information in this session, and we'll be sharing more with you in the coming months. But in the meantime, if you've got any questions, please do go to our website and you'll find contacts for our Investor Relations team there. And we look forward to talking with you over the coming months about these exciting plans. Thank you.