Ann: Interim Results Presentation, page-2

Interesting to see how the market reacts to the interims. Profit beats expectations, dividend up ( which was always going to happen ). Profit would have been down another 25 to 30% if it wasn't for cost cutting. But that does show that they have a huge advantage in being able to ride out this part of price cycle. Prices for main commodities haven't improved since Dec 14 and some have actually got worse. How much cost cutting can they do going forward to maintain dividend if there isn't an improvement in commodity prices ( mainly oil, I/o and copper ). On balance it seems like upside is limited and downside risk is mitigated by strong dividend payment and continual cost cutting. Maybe playing a few options against my shares looks viable from here.