BHP Shares Rise as Copper Overtakes Iron Ore in FY26 Results

BHP Group (LON: BHP), the diversified miner, posted FY2026 results before the London open today, with underlying attributable profit up 30% to $13.2bn on record Underlying EBITDA, a core profitability measure, of $32.9bn. The shares rose in early trade.

BHP was trading at 3,283p, up 1.2% from Monday’s close of 3,243p, having opened at 3,330p. That puts the stock close to its 52-week high of 3,495p.

The most significant shift in the results is structural rather than cyclical. Copper generated more than half of group Underlying EBITDA for the first time, at 54%, up from 45% in FY25, overtaking iron ore as BHP’s largest profit contributor. Chief executive Brandon Craig said: “Copper is the engine that is driving BHP’s growth. For the first time, Copper contributed more than half our Underlying EBITDA and generated significant free cash flow, which means our copper growth is self-funding.”

Copper EBITDA rose 48% to more than $18.2bn at a 70% margin, helped by an average realised copper price, the price actually achieved, of $5.74 per pound, up 35% on the year, even as copper production dipped 3% to 1,953 kilotonnes. Iron ore still delivered more than $14bn of EBITDA at a 61% margin, with BHP’s Western Australia Iron Ore business posting record output and remaining the lowest-cost major iron ore producer for a seventh consecutive year.

That combined strength funded a final dividend of 99 US cents per share, a 72% payout and BHP’s largest cash return in four years, payable on 23 September. Net debt fell to $8.7bn from $12.9bn a year earlier, below the top end of BHP’s $10bn-to-$20bn target range, with gearing, net debt as a share of capital, down to 13.4% from 19.8%.

The scale of the copper contribution means the metal, not iron ore, is now the swing factor for BHP’s earnings and dividend, a shift the shares’ gain on results day suggests markets are treating as durable.