BHP Billiton to slash capital spending

BHP Billiton's new chief executive Andrew Mackenzie has outlined plans to slash capital spending by almost a fifth.

In his first major address as head of the world's biggest resources company, Mr Mackenzie said capital and exploration expenditure would be cut to $US18 billion ($A18.28 billion) in 2013/14, from a peak of $US22 billion during this financial year.

"The rate of spend is expected to decline substantially thereafter," he told a mining conference in Barcelona on Tuesday night (AEST).

"By reducing our annual spend and increasing internal competition for capital, we expect to maximise returns from incremental investment, while delivering a substantial increase in the group's free cash flow."

Controllable cash savings of $US1.9 billion ($A1.93 billion), for the first half of 2012/13, were identified in his presentation, with controllable cash costs estimated at $US944 million ($A958.72 million).

Mr Mackenzie, a Scotsman who took over from Marius Kloppers last week, presides over a resources giant that last year endured a 58 per cent fall in first-half profit and a $US3 billion writedown on US shale assets.

But the new chief executive was confident the resources giant would enjoy better days, as it focused more on iron ore, coal, petroleum and copper.

"This is a wonderful time to be at the helm of the world's largest natural resources company," he said.

"We believe our strategy, when combined with our great ore bodies, will deliver stronger margins throughout the economic cycle, a simpler and more capital-efficient structure, a substantial increase in free cash flow and growth in shareholder value."

His speech was made after the Australian market closed on Tuesday.

BHP Billiton shares were down 64 cents at $34.03 on Wednesday.

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BHP Billiton to slash capital spending

BHP Billiton's new chief executive Andrew Mackenzie has outlined plans to slash capital spending by almost a fifth.

In his first major address as head of the world's biggest resources company, Mr Mackenzie said capital and exploration expenditure would be cut to $US18 billion ($A18.28 billion) in 2013/14, from a peak of $US22 billion during this financial year.

"The rate of spend is expected to decline substantially thereafter," he told a mining conference in Barcelona on Tuesday night (AEST).

"By reducing our annual spend and increasing internal competition for capital, we expect to maximise returns from incremental investment, while delivering a substantial increase in the group's free cash flow."

Controllable cash savings of $US1.9 billion ($A1.93 billion), for the first half of 2012/13, were identified in his presentation, with controllable cash costs estimated at $US944 million ($A958.72 million).

Mr Mackenzie, a Scotsman who took over from Marius Kloppers last week, presides over a resources giant that last year endured a 58 per cent fall in first-half profit and a $US3 billion writedown on US shale assets.

But the new chief executive was confident the resources giant would enjoy better days, as it focused more on iron ore, coal, petroleum and copper.

"This is a wonderful time to be at the helm of the world's largest natural resources company," he said.

"We believe our strategy, when combined with our great ore bodies, will deliver stronger margins throughout the economic cycle, a simpler and more capital-efficient structure, a substantial increase in free cash flow and growth in shareholder value."

His speech was made after the Australian market closed on Tuesday. BHP Billiton shares gained 12 cents to $34.67 during the session.

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Boeing to slash up to 2300 Seattle jobs

US aerospace giant Boeing is set to cut between 2000 and 2300 jobs in the Seattle region. Source: AAP

US aerospace giant Boeing plans to cut between 2000 and 2300 jobs by the end of the year in the Seattle region as it winds down development of its 787 and 747 aircraft.

About 800 workers of Boeing Commercial Airplanes will be laid off, with the rest of the cutbacks coming through attrition, redeployment and leaving vacant positions unfilled, the company said in an email to AFP on Friday.

"With 787 and 747 development efforts completing and disruption substantially decreasing, we require fewer resources," the company said.

"We will assess employment needs continuously and may need to hire in some areas to ensure we maintain critical skills. We continue to explore all options to lessen the use of layoffs," it said.

The workforce reductions will occur in the Seattle region of Washington state, where the Chicago-based company has its primary aircraft plants.

The job cuts primarily will affect work in post-assembly modification activities on the 787, the cutting edge jetliner that has been grounded worldwide since mid-January due to a battery problem, and on the 747 long-haul aircraft.

The activities, which Boeing calls "change incorporation and refurbishment", come during the development phase of new aeroplanes.

Aeroplanes that are not part of flight testing undergo "change incorporation", meaning they are configured to conform with the standards established as part of the effort to certify the air worthiness of the aircraft.

Aeroplanes used in test flights are refurbished after they complete the flight test activities.

Boeing noted it had already redeployed more than 500 employees since the beginning of 2013.

Boeing delivered its first 787 Dreamliner to All Nippon Airways in September 2011.

Lufthansa took delivery of the first 747-8 Intercontinental, an elongated version of the 747 wide body aircraft, in May 2012.

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Boeing to slash up to 2300 Seattle jobs

US aerospace giant Boeing is set to cut between 2000 and 2300 jobs in the Seattle region. Source: AAP

US aerospace giant Boeing plans to cut between 2000 and 2300 jobs by the end of the year in the Seattle region as it winds down development of its 787 and 747 aircraft.

About 800 workers of Boeing Commercial Airplanes will be laid off, with the rest of the cutbacks coming through attrition, redeployment and leaving vacant positions unfilled, the company said in an email to AFP on Friday.

"With 787 and 747 development efforts completing and disruption substantially decreasing, we require fewer resources," the company said.

"We will assess employment needs continuously and may need to hire in some areas to ensure we maintain critical skills. We continue to explore all options to lessen the use of layoffs," it said.

The workforce reductions will occur in the Seattle region of Washington state, where the Chicago-based company has its primary aircraft plants.

The job cuts primarily will affect work in post-assembly modification activities on the 787, the cutting edge jetliner that has been grounded worldwide since mid-January due to a battery problem, and on the 747 long-haul aircraft.

The activities, which Boeing calls "change incorporation and refurbishment", come during the development phase of new aeroplanes.

Aeroplanes that are not part of flight testing undergo "change incorporation", meaning they are configured to conform with the standards established as part of the effort to certify the air worthiness of the aircraft.

Aeroplanes used in test flights are refurbished after they complete the flight test activities.

Boeing noted it had already redeployed more than 500 employees since the beginning of 2013.

Boeing delivered its first 787 Dreamliner to All Nippon Airways in September 2011.

Lufthansa took delivery of the first 747-8 Intercontinental, an elongated version of the 747 wide body aircraft, in May 2012.

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Boral merges businesses to slash costs

BORAL has already slashed $100 million in costs because of the housing slump, and has now announced it will merge its construction materials and cement divisions.

Australia's depressed housing market has been blamed for the cost cuts, sale of assets and job cuts.

The building materials group recently axed 700 jobs but a spokeswoman for Boral said the only worker to lose their job out of the merger was current, long-serving construction materials manager Murray Read, who has been made redundant.

Joseph Goss, a senior executive in the cement division of Lafarge North America, has been appointed to manage the newly merged division.

A week after announcing the 700 new job cuts in January, Boral upgraded its underlying first-half profit forecast to about $52 million from $35 million, aided by trading improvements especially in US housing.

However after restructuring costs, the company suffered a first half net loss of $25.3 million and said it expects conditions to remain challenging in the building products market.

The result was dragged down by $77 million worth of significant items, including impairment charges relating to the suspension of clinker production at Waurn Ponds in Victoria and first half restructuring and redundancy costs.

A cyclical recovery was expected in construction, supporting Boral's repairing of its balance sheet including net debt of $1.4 billion, Commonwealth Bank analysts said in a research note on Monday.

It saw asset sales of its Windows, US Construction Materials businesses and continued property sales releasing about $180 million.

"We are comfortable maintaining a positive view on Boral at this stage," the analysts said.

The company's shares had risen 10 cents, or 2.0 per cent, to $5.03 on Monday, and are up 15 per cent this year.

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