The world's fifth largest mining (in terms of capitalisation) firm BHP Billiton reported a 72 percent increase in its first-half net profit today and revealed plans to return some $US10 billion to shareholders through a buyback.

BHP said in a statement, net profit rose to a record $US10.52 billion ($10.6bn) in its first half from $US6.14 billion recorded a year ago, as demand for industrial raw materials went in stride with the global economy.

In the last six months, company revenues rose by 39 percent to $US34.17bn from $US24.57bn a year earlier.

BHP, the world's fifth-largest public company by market capitalisation, will pay an interim dividend of US46 cents compared with US42c the previous year, and announced plans to return $US10bn to shareholders through a buyback this year.

Bloomberg news said in a related report that this is within analysts' expectations of the mining firm.

The company said it was "cautiously optimistic on the short-term outlook for the global economy, given the continuation of robust growth in emerging markets and further positive signs of a sustainable recovery in major developed economies such as the United States".


"While we expect a slowdown in the growth rate of global commodity demand in calendar year 2011, the economic environment still underpins a robust near-term outlook for our products," a BHP statement said.