BHP BILLITON LIMITED AND RIO TINTO LIMITED

BHP billiton limited and RIO Tinto limited

BHP billiton limited and RIO Tinto limited

BHP Billiton Company Overview

BHP Billiton Group (BHP Billiton) is a diversified natural resources group engaged in mineral exploration and production. The group's primary focus areas include oil and gas, aluminum, copper, nickel, iron ore, manganese, metallurgical coal, and energy coal, with additional exposures to uranium, gold, zinc, lead, silver, and diamonds. BHP Billiton comprises BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton Plc. The group has a global presence with more than 100 operations in 25 countries. It is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and employs about 42,000 people.

The group recorded revenues of $59,473 million in the financial year ended June 2009 (FY2009), an increase of 25.3% over FY2008.The operating profit of the group was $24,145 million in FY2009, an increase of 22.4% over FY2008. The net profit was $15,390 million in FY2009, an increase of

14.7% over FY2008.

Revenue Analysis

Overview

BHP Billiton Group (BHP Billiton) recorded revenues of $59,473 million in FY2009, an increase of 25.3% over FY2008. For FY2009, Europe, the group's largest geographic market, accounted for 26.3% of the total revenues.

BHP Billiton generates revenues through nine business divisions: base metals (25.1% of the total revenues, before eliminations, in the FY2009), petroleum (16.2%), iron ore (16.0%), energy coal (11.1%), aluminum (9.8%), stainless steel materials (8.6%), metallurgical coal (6.7%), manganese (4.9%), and diamonds and specialty products (1.6%).

Swot Analysis

BHP Billiton Group (BHP Billiton) is a diversified natural resources group engaged in mineral exploration and production. The group's primary focus areas include oil and gas, aluminum, copper, nickel, iron ore, manganese, metallurgical coal and energy coal, with additional exposures to uranium, gold, zinc, lead, and silver. BHP Billiton enjoys a dominant position in the mining industry with operations in more than 25 countries. BHP Billiton's strong presence and leadership position in a number of significant markets gives the group a substantial competitive advantage and also increases its cross selling opportunities. However, intense competition in the industry could lead to loss of market share and put pressure on the group's margins.

Strengths

Strong market position

BHP Billiton enjoys a dominant position in the metal and mining industry. The group has a global presence with more than 100 operations in 25 countries. The group's petroleum customer sector group (CSG) is a global oil and gas business with producing assets in six countries across six continents and exploration opportunities in a further six countries. The base metals CSG is one of the world's top producers of copper, silver, lead, and uranium, and a leading producer of zinc.

BHP Billiton's portfolio of mining operations includes the Escondida mine in Chile, which is the world's largest single producer of copper, and Olympic Dam in South Australia, a major producer of copper and uranium. The group is the world's largest producer of seaborne manganese ore and one of the top three global producers of manganese alloy. BHP Billiton's metallurgical coal CSG is the world's largest supplier of seaborne metallurgical ...