The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price is at the centre of attention after reporting its FY26 half-year result.
BHP is one of the world’s largest miners, with iron ore, copper, coal and potash as part of the ASX mining share‘s commodity portfolio.
BHP FY26 half-year result
Let’s look at the numbers for the first six months of FY26:
- Revenue grew by 11% to US$27.9 billion
- Underlying EBITDA (EBITDA explained) rose 25% to US$15.5 billion
- Profit from operations rose 34% to US$12.3 billion
- Attributable profit climbed 28% to US$5.6 billion
- Operating cashflow increased 13% to US$9.4 billion
- Free cashflow climbed 10% to US$2.9 billion
- Interim dividend per share increased by 46% to US$0.73 per share
What numbers drove this result?
BHP explained that revenue increased 11% primarily because of a significant increase in copper prices, as well as higher iron ore prices.
The copper average realised price increased by 32% to US$5.28 per pound, while the copper production volume was flat at 984kt. This helped copper underlying EBITDA soar 59% to US$8 billion. It contributed 51% of underlying EBITDA.
Within iron ore, the business saw the average realised price (for Western Australian Iron Ore (WAIO)) increase 4% to US$84.71 per wet metric tonne (wmt) with production up 2% to 134mt. This led to iron ore’s underlying EBITDA increase 4% to US$7.5 billion. Chines demand remained “resilient” with steel production estimated to have remained at around 1Bt for the seventh successive year, supported by strong steel exports and solid manufacturing demand, particularly from the automobile and machinery sectors.
Steelmaking coal saw production increase 2% to 9.2mt and the average realised price fell 9% to US$188.58 per tonne. Energy coal production rose 10% to 8.1mt and the average realised price fell 23% to US$95.76 per tonne. This led to coal underlying EBITDA dropping 60% to US$0.2 billion.
The potash Jansen stage 1 is 75% complete, while stage 2 is 14% complete. The potash price increased 30% during the HY26 period, driven by strong demand in southeast Asia and China. Potash demand was at an all-time high. The total cost of Jansen stage 1 is now expected to be US$8.4 billion.
Outlook for the BHP share price
The company also announced today its “most valuable silver streaming agreement ever”, relating to its share of Antamina’s future silver production. It has an upfront consideration of US$4.3 billion to BHP at completion.
In terms of commodities, BHP said that commodity demand is “robust”.
Chinese copper demand is expected to “gather momentum” and Indian demand is expected to “continue the strong growth” experienced in 2025. With the strong demand outlook and the impact of disruptions at competitor mines, global grade (ore quality) declines and the slow mine development pipeline, BHP expects a continued tight copper market over the next few years. Some of the shortfall could be met by scrap generation, competitor mine recovery and new mine supply.
Global iron ore and steel demand is expected to “remain broadly stable in the short term”. A slight reduction in China is expected to be offset by growth from emerging economies and a mild recovery from Europe.
If I were a shareholder, I’d be very happy with this result, particularly with the surge of copper profitability and the bigger dividend.
But, with the BHP share price up 21% over the last six months (at the pre-open price), it doesn’t seem like an opportunistic time to invest. But, its increasing copper profitability is increasingly appealing.
For now, there are other ASX dividend shares that I’d prefer to invest in.
