Nothing But Steely Stare
Newcastle Herald
Tuesday September 21, 1999
THE first day of BHP's two-day Melbourne board meeting has ended with no public word over the company's troubled steel assets.
An internal report on the future of steel businesses including Whyalla and the remaining Newcastle steel mills was scheduled to go to the board yesterday morning but chief executive Paul Anderson gave no specific comments about the steel situation at yesterday's annual general meeting.
BHP watchers expect the report to be discussed when the confidential board meeting resumes this morning.
Few expect concrete announcements in the short term.
Analysts believe Port Kembla will be kept as the cornerstone of BHP Steel but all other assets remain under a cloud.
Speaking directly to shareholders for the first time since joining the embattled resources group in December, Mr Anderson told the annual general meeting yesterday that BHP was being shaped to survive a long-term decline in world commodity prices.
The American said BHP was changing to survive in a global economy dominated by increasingly larger companies.
`In an environment of long-term decline in prices for our products and where our competitors are becoming larger and more efficient, we need to make sure every business we have is at the low end of the cost curve,' he told shareholders.
`We need to make sure that the overheads we carry in our business are appropriate and not there because of some historical legacy or to fulfil an inappropriate image of ourselves.
`... We want to make sure every dollar we spend brings a return.'
Mr Anderson and new BHP chairman Don Argus, also appearing at his first AGM, were keen to keep shareholders focused on the future, despite some wanting further answers and accountability for decisions that have cost the company dearly.
Mr Anderson said moves to stop the cash bleed at BHP, by closing or selling non-performing assets, along with an upturn in commodity markets had helped investor confidence in the company.
As result the share price had improved by about 50% since last year's meeting.
Shareholders officially elected Mr Anderson to BHP's board at the meeting and re-elected Mr Argus and directors David Crawford, Margaret Jackson and former Telstra Corp Ltd chief Frank Blount.
BHP shares closed 11? firmer at $18.42 on the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday.
© 1999 Newcastle Herald
