The company now expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, which is a more closely watched metric than net income in the steel industry, to be between $6bn and $7bn.
BHP Billiton shareholders have overwhelmingly voted in favour of the South32 demerger, a spin off that creates Australia’s third-largest mining company.
The mines ministry has missed an April deadline to ask courts solve the issue of whether companies may claim they meet black-ownership quotas if shareholders have sold their stakes.