	bhp net seen around mln dlrs for nine months australia s largest company the broken hill pty co ltd brkn s bhp is expected to report a net profit of around mln to mln dlrs tomorrow for the first nine months ended february share analysts polled by reuters said this would be well below the mln dlrs ed in the first three quarters of in the full year ended may the group ed a record mln dlrs the analysts estimated that the group would report a third quarter net in the region of mln to mln dlrs against mln a year earlier and mln in the second quarter bhp s ings in the first half ended november amounted to mln dlrs sharply down from mln a year earlier the analysts predicted that bhp will report an upturn in petroleum ings compared with the first quarter reflecting some improvement in crude oil prices from the bass strait fields but these gains would be offset by lower mineral and steel ings they said the mineral group has been hit by lower coal prices and shipments to japan while the steel division has been affected by industrial and production problems the analysts noted that the third quarter is normally bhp s lowest ing period owing to a number of seasonal factors and they predicted a sharp rise in fourth quarter net to around mln dlrs one key factor in the fourth quarter is expected to be a tax break of some mln dlrs for the investment allowance on capital expenditure in the steel division they said they said they saw bhp s full year ings at around mln to mln dlrs they added that such a decline from would be no surprise noting bhp has said that it would be difficult to equal its record net profit reuter 
