BHP Billiton rejects China fears  despite profit crash

Mining companies are bearing the brunt of China’s woes
Mining companies are bearing the brunt of China’s woes
ROB GRIFFITH/AP

The world’s biggest mining group said yesterday that panic over the Chinese economy was unwarranted even as it lowered its estimate of peak demand from urbanisation in the country.

BHP Billiton, in its first results since spinning off its less-favoured mines and plants into a company called South32, revealed its sharpest fall in annual profit in more than a decade, down by 62 per cent to £8.7 billion.

However, Andrew Mackenzie, chief executive, said that BHP’s analysis suggested that Chinese growth would pick up in the second half and that he still anticipated the economy to hit Beijing’s 7 per cent growth forecast.

The company attempted to shrug off the plunge in Chinese share prices and devaluation of the yuan as short-term volatility created by