ANNUAL REPORT 2016/2017 CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE Dear Shareholder Shareholders will have the opportunity to join me in personally thanking Paul at our Annual General Meeting in October. BlueScope’s FY2017 annual results are the most important in From 1 January, 2018, Mr Mark Vassella will take over as a decade. Managing Director and CEO. Your Company announced a return to a $1billion Earnings Before Mr Vassella joined BlueScope in 2007, and is currently Chief Interest & Tax (EBIT) result, and after ten years at the helm, Executive BlueScope Australia and New Zealand. He started in Managing Director & CEO Paul O’Malley announced his retirement. the steel industry as a cadet at BHP Newcastle in NSW, in the early Treated separately, either the EBIT performance result or the 80s, and has worked through the ranks, in a range of general CEO announcement would be very significant news for you, our management and leadership roles in Australia, the UK and the US. shareholders. Combined, they send a clear signal that BlueScope BlueScope is noted for the strength of its management team and has completed a very difficult journey of transformation since the after a rigorous international and domestic selection process, the global financial crisis hit nine years ago and, crucially, is now Board was very pleased to be able to select Mark from a very ready for another exciting period of growth and development. strong internal pool. This revival has been led by outgoing Paul O’Malley who has been BlueScope is delivering well on its strategy, with strong momentum an outstanding leader for more than ten years. The Company owes throughout the Company. Mark will lead from the front, and his him a great debt of gratitude for his strength of vision and purpose priority now is to keep delivering on the strategy, and follow-up as leader. His focus on safety, and on the essential turnaround and our recent performance and successes. Continuity is key. transformation of the Company in the decade after the global financial crisis showed leadership of the highest order. Mark has been a key part of the development of our strategy, and in Australia and New Zealand has led our 8,000 strong workforce If you look closely at BlueScope today, you can see a vastly different in manufacturing and distribution through a major restructure company from that of 10 years ago when Paul assumed the job. of the business. He has overseen the return of the Australian Ten years ago the world could not supply enough steel to meet the business to profitability, and was instrumental in the 2015 growth in China. As undersupply changed to significant oversupply decision to continue operations at Port Kembla in Australia, over that time, BlueScope had to change also. Today the Company and at Glenbrook in New Zealand. has a much lower dependency on export driven commodity sales. He has run all BlueScope’s buildings businesses in North America, Today BlueScope has refocused the Company to serve the changing leading the integration of our acquisitions and sat on the Board needs of its domestic customers in Australia, New Zealand and of North Star (the leading mini-mill in North America). He has the United States, where it has primary steel making facilities. delivered outstanding performance and will make a significant Service and cost competitiveness are key. contribution as global leader of this great Company. Secondly, its geographic diversity provides growth opportunities coupled with a spread of earnings that stabilises the overall business. Financial performance Thirdly, and very importantly, a large proportion of today’s business is providing value added, differentiated painted and The FY2017 results show continued growth and strong financial coated products into Australia, New Zealand, the USA and performance. importantly, growth markets of Asia. The buildings businesses The improvement in underlying return on invested capital (ROIC) to in the USA and China also provide for a differentiated offer. 18.5 per cent from 9.6 per cent in FY2016 further confirms that And lastly, BlueScope enjoys a very strong balance sheet. It gives strategic initiatives across the Company are working well. us the resilience to counter the economic cycles and also to take Since we acquired full ownership of North Star BlueScope Steel in advantage of opportunities like the one with North Star some two FY2016 this business has seen sustained improvement in margins. years ago. The outlook for the US steel industry strengthened and the business All of this enables the Company to have a more predictable is extremely well placed to benefit from a domestic US uptick in cash flow while having good exposure to growth markets. demand and improved prices. This will all be part of Paul’s legacy. However the real legacy Paul The Australian and New Zealand businesses produced strong leaves behind is his strong personal values that have set the tone results, not least because of a razor-sharp focus on cost from the top, and are reflected in everything the business does. competitiveness. However, there is a need for an ongoing focus He retires as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer in on costs in these businesses due to energy price increases. December with the warmest thanks and best wishes of the Board and all BlueScope employees. Our joint venture with Nippon Steel Sumitomo Metals Corporation Strategic context continues to bring many benefits. We have diversified our customer base in Asia, adding retail and small business sales to our The hard work done to steer BlueScope through the cycles of established position in commercial markets. We are continuing to the last 10 years now means BlueScope is in a better position to grow and invest in the region, with the development of the third consistently deliver sustainable profits. The foundations are secure, metal coating line with in-line painting in Thailand underway. based on a balanced portfolio of businesses in great regions with significant opportunities for growth. The focus will be on the The restructure of the BlueScope Buildings business has led to delivery of improved ROIC, consistently and through the cycle. a significant profitability boost in North America, and improved We will continue our capital management program, further performance in China. boosting the strength of the Company’s balance sheet. Across our global footprint, these combined improvements have I hasten to add that we are not complacent, and our focus as we repositioned BlueScope, ready for the journey ahead. start to stretch further into the future will be to embed sustainable profits and growth. We do not underestimate the challenges of a FY2017 fi nancial highlights and outlook cyclical business, and recognise that at times we will again be exposed, but we have confidence in our focused leadership and the BlueScope delivered a $715.9 million reported net profit after tax work that has been done to develop a sound platform and strategy. (NPAT) for FY2017 – a 102 per cent increase on FY2016. Underlying The FY2017 performance demonstrates one aspect of how we are NPAT of $650.8 million was 112 per cent higher than FY2016. protecting the business against movements in industry cycles. The Company lifted underlying earnings before interest and tax There has been a distinct change in our sales mix, with increased (EBIT) by 89 per cent to $1,105 million. contribution from value-added products to give a better earnings A big achievement is that net debt at 30 June 2017 was mix and lower exposure to fluctuations in spread. Similarly the $232.2 million, a reduction of 70 per cent from 30 June geographic diversity of earnings is much broader than ten years 2016 through strong operating cash flow. ago when 70 per cent of earnings were derived in Australia. Today, Australian operations account for 41 per cent of FY2017 Our successful transformation has rebased earnings to a earnings, and North America is responsible for 38 per cent. higher level, lowered volatility, improved our earnings mix and positioned the Company well to fund growth, reduce debt, and The steel industry is a capital intensive sector, with investments for capital management. running over decades. A company must make capital work hard to drive returns, and ROIC is the right measure for this, through the In the immediate half year there are a number of macro factors cycle. Our philosophy is to invest capital wisely and then make it impacting the outlook: work hard. ■ U.S. steel margins are lower due to scrap prices increasing In this context, and to support our strategy for the future, challenging ahead of steel prices; ROIC targets will be the key driver of remuneration rewards for ■ As trade restrictions take hold in global markets, import product all employees. This new approach and a new remuneration offerings are taking advantage of gaps in the Australian anti- framework will bring more value to shareholders with less cost. dumping regime, which together with volatility in FX, is leading It will support a long-term focus on delivering value, coupled with to lower domestic steel margins; and more equity opportunity for executives. It will dictate a continued focus on annual targets aligned to the overall Company strategy, ■ Productivity improvements at Australian Steel Products are and thus increased executive and shareholder alignment. not yet fully offsetting the scale of energy cost escalation in FY2018. Safety The Company currently expects 1H FY2018 underlying EBIT around 80 per cent of 2H FY2017 underlying EBIT (which was $527.3 million). Safety remains the number one priority at BlueScope. In FY2017, Expectations are subject to spread, FX and market conditions. the Company’s safety performance deteriorated, as measured by the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate of 0.8, and the Medically Capital management Treated Injury Frequency Rate of 5.6.