BHP half-year profit falls by 86 per cent

BHP has revealed its latest half-year result showing an 86 per cent slump in net profits from $USD6.5 billion to $USD927 million in the six months to December 31. BHP announced last week it would take a $USD2.5 billion impairment post-tax on the value of its West Australian nickel asset. BHP CEO Mike Henry discussed BHP’s earnings, nickel demand and supply. "By way of context, nickel, of course, is the smallest business by some margin in the BHP portfolio, but given the lack of supply we've seen coming in from Indonesia nickel from the last 12 months that forced us to step back and reassess the carrying value of that business," Mr Henry told Sky News Australia. "That resulted in the impairment that we've seen.