VALE Vale SA

SYDNEY—BHP Billiton Ltd. swung to its worst-ever loss and cut its final dividend by 77% as the world's No. 1 miner by market value recorded large write-downs and grappled with a slump in commodity prices.

The Melbourne, Australia-based miner on Tuesday said it swung to a net loss of US$6.39 billion for the year through June from a year-earlier profit of US$1.91 billion. A loss of US$5.8 billion was the median of eight analyst forecasts compiled by The Wall Street Journal.

The company, which in February abandoned a policy to keep payouts stable or rising year after year, cut its final dividend to US$0.14 a share. That was well below the US$0.62-a-share payout at the corresponding stage in 2015.

BHP said its bottom line was weighed by impairment charges totaling US$7.7 billion, including US$4.9 billion in write-downs against its U.S. onshore petroleum division and a US$2.2 billion provision relating to last year's deadly dam failure at iron-ore mining operations in Brazil that it jointly owns with Vale SA.

Underlying profit, stripping out one-time charges, slumped 81% to US$1.22 billion.

While commodity markets have bounced this year, prices over BHP's full fiscal year were down from a year earlier, hurt most by oversupply. A China-led boom in prices that ended earlier this decade sparked a spending spree in the mining sector, as companies expanded their operations to meet surging demand from Asia.

In the downturn, BHP—like its peers—has been focused on cutting costs and working existing mines harder to boost margins. BHP said it saved US$437 million through improving the efficiency of its businesses during the period.

Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 16, 2016 03:55 ET (07:55 GMT)

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