Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 4-Feb-16

Standard and Poor’s recently downgraded BHP Billiton’s credit rating to "A", and analyst May Zhong says a minor reduction in its dividend will not be sufficient to avert a further downgrade. Zhong has declined to specify how large the dividend reduction would need to be, but notes that other factors also contributed to the downgrade. BHP is under pressure to abandon its progressive dividend policy when its 2015-16 interim results are released on 23 February 2016.

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