25 August 2015 Results for announcement to the market Name of Companies: BHP Billiton Limited (ABN 49 004 028 077) and BHP Billiton Plc (Registration No. 3196209) Report for the year ended 30 June 2015 This statement includes the consolidated results of the BHP Billiton Group, comprising BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton Plc, for the year ended 30 June 2015 compared with the year ended 30 June 2014. This page and the following 59 pages comprise the year end information given to the ASX under Listing Rule 4.3A and released to the market under UK Listing Rule 9.7A. T he 2015 BHP Billiton Group annual financial report will be released in September. The results are prepared in accordance with IFRS and are presented in US dollars. US$ Million Revenue from continuing operations down 21.4% to 44,636 Revenue from discontinued operations down n.c.1 to 7,631 Total revenue down 22.2% to 52,267 Profit after taxation from continuing operations attributable to down 74.5% to 3,483 the members of the BHP Billiton Group Profit after taxation from discontinued operations attributable down n.c.1 to (1,573) to the members of the BHP Billiton Group Profit after taxation attributable to the members down 86.2% to 1,910 of the BHP Billiton Group 1 Not comparable. Net Tangible Asset Backing: Net tangible assets per fully paid share were US$12.44 as at 30 June 2015, compared with US$14.95 as at 30 June 2014. Dividends per share: Final dividend for current period US 62 cents fully franked (record date 11 September 2015; payment date 29 September 2015) Final dividend for previous corresponding period US 62 cents fully franked This statement was approved by the Board of Directors. Margaret Taylor Group Company Secretary BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton Plc NEWS RELEASE Release Time IMMEDIATE Date 25 August 2015 Number 17/15 BHP BILLITON RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2015 Information in this report has been presented on a continuing operations basis to exclude the contribution from assets that were demerged with South32, unless otherwise noted. The contribution of the South32 assets to the Group’s results are disclosed as discontinued operations within the Group’s financial statements. The health and safety of our people is our first priority. After no fatalities in the 2014 financial year, we tragically lost five colleagues this year. It is our ongoing goal to have a workplace free from fatalities and serious injury and we have implemented a company-wide program to improve performance. Underlying EBITDA(1) of US$21.9 billion and an Underlying EBITDA margin(2) of 50% for the 2015 financial year demonstrate the quality of our portfolio and its resilience in challenging markets. Underlying EBIT(1) declined by 46% to US$11.9 billion. Our focus on best-in-class performance delivered productivity gains of US$4.1 billion(3), two years ahead of target. We expect further cost reductions in the 2016 financial year across all businesses. Capital and exploration expenditure(4) decreased by 24% to US$11.0 billion in the period and is expected to decline to US$8.5 billion in the 2016 financial year and US$7.0 billion in the 2017 financial year. Improved operating and capital productivity combined with the flexibility of our investment program supported free cash flow(2) of US$6.3 billion. We maintained our solid A credit rating(5) and finished the period with net debt(2) of US$24.4 billion, a decline of US$1.4 billion. Our commitment to the progressive dividend is unchanged. Our full-year dividend increased by 2% to 124 US cents per share. Year ended 30 June 2015 2014 Change US$M US$M % Statutory Profit from operations (EBIT) – continuing operations 8,670 22,649 (61.7%) Attributable profit 1,910 13,832 (86.2%) Basic earnings per share (cents) 35.9 260.0 (86.2%) Dividend per share (cents) 124.0 121.0 2.5% Net operating cash flow 19,296 25,364 (23.9%) Continuing operations Underlying EBITDA(1) 21,852 30,292 (27.9%) Underlying EBIT(1) 11,866 22,098 (46.3%) Underlying attributable profit(1) 6,417 13,263 (51.6%) Underlying basic earnings per share (cents)(2) 120.7 249.3 (51.6%) Net operating cash flow 17,794 23,640 (24.7%) Capital and exploration expenditure(4) 11,040 14,608 (24.4%) Total operations Attributable profit excluding exceptional items(2) 7,109 13,447 (47.1%) 1 News Release Results for the 2015 financial year BHP Billiton Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Mackenzie, said: “We are all deeply saddened by the tragic loss of five colleagues over the past year. These fatalities have had a permanent impact on our Company and on the families and friends of those who died. The health and safety of our people must come first and we are making an even greater effort to improve our performance as we strive for a fatality-free workplace. Across BHP Billiton we have held a series of safety interventions to reaffirm our commitment to focus on the things that matter most. “The success of our productivity initiatives generated strong cash flow which supported our dividend commitment, funded continued investment in growth and enabled a reduction in net debt, despite the dramatic fall in commodity prices. And while we recorded a sector-leading EBITDA margin of 50 per cent, we will cut costs further and exercise our growing capital flexibility to improve our competitiveness and support our progressive dividend policy through the cycle. “In the short term we expect ongoing economic reforms in China to contribute to periods of market volatility. And, while we remain confident in the long-term outlook for commodities demand as emerging economies continue to urbanise and industrialise, we have lowered our forecast of peak Chinese steel production to between 935 million tonnes and 985 million tonnes in the mid 2020’s. This backdrop will favour low-cost producers with economies of scale. “Importantly, we do not require the same level of investment to grow as in the past. Improved productivity can further stretch the capacity of our existing operations to increase volumes at very low cost. For example, in Western Australia Iron Ore we can increase the capacity of our system from 254 million tonnes today to 290 million tonnes over time with minimal investment, while making more than US$20 per tonne margin at today’s prices. Beyond this, we continue to reduce development costs within our project portfolio. However, we remain focused on value and will only approve projects when the time is right.” The health and safety of our people is core to our values The health and safety of our people is our first priority. After no fatalities in the 2014 financial year, we tragically lost five colleagues this year. It is our ongoing goal to have a workplace free from fatalities and serious injury and we are making an even greater effort to improve our performance. This includes launching a company-wide safety intervention with more than 40,000 of our people having participated in sessions so far. During the 2015 financial year, BHP Billiton reported a Total Recordable Injury Frequency of 4.1 per million hours worked(6), a two per cent improvement compared with the 2014 financial year. Delivered strong cash flow, funded the dividend, invested in growth and reduced net debt BHP Billiton delivered Underlying EBITDA of US$21.9 billion in the 2015 financial year, down 28 per cent, as lower realised prices reduced earnings by US$16.4 billion and more than offset the substantial productivity gains that continue to be achieved across the portfolio. Non-cash charges increased by US$1.3 billion and contributed to a 46 per cent decline in Underlying EBIT to US$11.9 billion. Despite the significant decline in commodity prices, we generated US$6.3 billion of free cash flow during the period as we further improved both operating and capital productivity and exercised the flexibility in our investment program. In this regard, we invested US$11.0 billion in capital projects and exploration(4) during the year. We maintained our solid A credit rating, finishing the period with net debt of US$24.4 billion, a decline of US$1.4 billion, and a gearing ratio(2) of 25.7 per cent (2014: 23.2 per cent). We remain committed to our strong balance sheet which allows us to maintain our progressive dividend and invest through the cycle. In line with our progressive dividend policy, we increased our full-year dividend by two per cent to 124 US cents per share. 2 BHP Billiton Results for the year ended 30 June 2015 Early delivery of our productivity target provides a strong platform to generate further improvements BHP Billiton’s focus on operational excellence continued to yield significant results in the 2015 financial year. We reduced costs faster than expected in all our major businesses, with unit cash costs down by 31 per cent at Western Australia Iron Ore, 23 per cent at Queensland Coal, eight per cent at Escondida(7) while Black Hawk well costs fell 19 per cent. This contributed to the delivery of US$4.1 billion(3) of productivity gains during the period, two years ahead of our 2017 target, comprising a reduction in controllable cash costs of US$2.7 billion, productivity-led volume efficiencies of US$1.2 billion and a US$142 million reduction in capitalised exploration expenditure.