BHP Shuffles Senior Management Appoints David Lamont As New CFO

Summary

• BHP Group Limited (ASX:BHP) announces a major shuffle in the senior management with the appoint of Mr David Lamont as the new Chief Financial Officer.
• Mr Lamont would assume charge from 1 December 2020 after the current CFO- Mr Peter Beaven steps down on 30 November 2020.
• David Lamont has served many multinational listed companies before, including OZ Minerals Limited (ASX:OZL), PaperlinX Limited, and Incitec Pivot Limited (ASX:IPL).
• Mr Lamont had served the Company previously as a CFO of the Carbon Steel Materials and Energy Coal business, and said, he is delighted to re-join one of the best Company in the world with strong values and robust financials.
• BHP shares have been riding high on the back of rising iron ore prices on the exchange with a price appreciation of over 58.0 per cent over.

BHP Group Limited (ASX:BHP), which has been riding high on the back of rising iron ore prices for quite some time, announced a senior management shift with the appointment of David Lamont as the Chief Financial Officer of the Company.

Mr Lamont, who has been the CFO of CSL Limited (ASX:CSL)- an ASX-listed global biotech company since January 2016 would assume charge from 1 December 2020, right after the current CFO and - Peter Beaven steps down on 30 November 2020.

Mr Lamont had been the CFO of BHP’s Carbon Steel Materials and Energy Coal businesses previously and had been CFO and an Executive director at MMG from 2010, before joining CSL.

David Lamont has served many multinational listed companies before, including OZ Minerals Limited (ASX:OZL), PaperlinX Limited, and Incitec Pivot Limited (ASX:IPL).

Mr Lamont, who holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is a professional Chartered Accountant (CA), currently holds a membership to the Institute of Chartered Accountants (Australia) and is a Director of Financial Executives Institute of Australia.

At present, Mr Peter Beaven would continue as a CFO of the Company until 30 November 2020 and would also provide ongoing leadership through to Mr Lamont’s commencement while supporting the handover to Mr Lamont into early 2021, after which Mr Beaven would leave the Anglo-Australian mining company.

Management’s Comment

The current CEO- Mike Henry, who took the rein from Andrew Mackenzie in early January 2020 mentioned in the announcement that in the current role of CFO- Mr Peter Beavan has developed and embedded a rigorous approach for capital allocation while strengthening the financial position significantly.

Furthermore, Mr Henry mentioned that Peter Beavan, who has now decided to pursue his own personal ambitions, has served ten years in major operational roles, including in copper business where Mr Beavan oversaw record throughput- at Escondida copper mine in Chile.

BHP shares have been surging from the recent low of $24.050 (intraday low on 13 March 2020) to the recent high of $38.090 (as on 10 June 2020), which marks a price gain of ~ 58.37 per cent due to the bull run in iron ore prices.

To Know More, Do Read: Iron Ore Futures Predisposed to China’s Steel Industry Revival

BHP on Charts

• BHP on a Daily Chart

BHP Daily Chart (Source: Refinitiv Eikon Thomson Reuters)

On following the daily chart, it could be seen that the stock has breached its horizontal resistance line of $32.23, which should now act as the major support for the stock.

The stock is testing the +1 Standard Deviation of the 20-day simple Bollinger band and is retracing towards the mean value of the 20-day Bollinger band.

The stock is currently trading above both its short-term and medium-term average value with prices and trading above the 50-day exponential moving average and 200-day exponential moving average (EMA), confirming that the major uptrend still holds good.

The mean value, which is overlapping with the 200-day EMA, should act as an immediate and decisive support for the stock over the short-run, followed by the -1 SD of the Bollinger band which is overlapping with the 50-day EMA.

The 14-day Relative Strength Index, which moved in tandem with the price action is now slightly sloping downward but is yet above the mean value of 50.0

BHP Daily Chart (Source: Refinitiv Eikon Thomson Reuters)

On further following the daily chart and post applying the + Directional Index and – Direction Index, it could be seen that the +DI has moved above the -DI from below, reflecting that the current trend is picking up momentum; however, as the slope of Average Ture Range is now downward, both +- DIs are presently shifting downwards, reflecting that the momentum in price rally not very strong.

At present, there is no negative cross between that +- DIs, the stock is currently under a recovery mode, but it should be noticed that 12,24,9 MACD indicator is now giving a negative signal.

The stock has to breach the recent top of $38.090 to establish a swing and mark the continuation of the rally.

BHP last traded at $35.400, down by 1.72 per cent against its previous close on ASX (as on 18 June 2020, AEST: 1:15PM).