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Basler

bsl · ASX Financial Services
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FY2005 Annual Report · Basler
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GROWTH.
RESULTS

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Level 11, 120 Collins Street
Melbourne, Victoria 3000 Australia 
www.bluescopesteel.com

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BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED 
ANNUAL REPORT 2004/05 

 
 
 
 
EXPERTISE.
IMAGINATION

OUR CUSTOMERS SEEK NEW PRODUCTS AND NEW THINKING. 
BY VALUING IMAGINATION, WE GROW OUR REVENUE.
OUR CUSTOMERS ARE OUR PARTNERS.

REVENUE

$8.0BILLION 2005

$5.8B 2004

$5.3B 2003

Wendy Wang from Butler China at the 
award-winning Qantas jet hangar, 
Canberra, Australia.

NET PROFIT AFTER TAX

$1.0BILLION 2005

$584M 2004

$452M 2003

Brett Everson at Port Kembla, one of the world's finest Steelworks.

OUR STRONG FINANCIAL POSITION. 
REFLECTS THE CALIBRE OF OUR PEOPLE.
OUR PEOPLE ARE OUR STRENGTH.

SKILL.
INTEGRITY

REWARD.
OUR SHAREHOLDERS ARE OUR FOUNDATIONS. BELIEF 

WE REWARD OUR SHAREHOLDERS’ 
FAITH WITH ONGOING VALUE.

Steel is used in many innovative, dynamic structures. 
Melbourne, Australia's CityLink sound tunnel 
showcases BlueScope Steel's flat plate product.

TOTAL DIVIDENDS 62CENTS

2005

40C 2004

29C 2003

INVOLVEMENT.
RESPECT

CAPITAL 

INVESTMENT $660M

TAX PAID $310M

Tsunami relief housing, featuring roofing and trussing 
donated by BlueScope Lysaght, Phuket, Thailand.

WE CONTRIBUTE TO EMPLOYEES, BUSINESSES AND GOVERNMENTS 
IN MANY COMMUNITIES, ADDING TO WEALTH AND PROVIDING OPPORTUNITY.
OUR COMMUNITIES ARE OUR HOMES.

COMMUNITY 

DONATIONS $2.2M

SUPPLIERS, 

SERVICES & UTILITIES $2.1B

WAGES & SALARIES $1.3B

PAGE 8

CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

DELIVERING ON 
COMMITMENTS

PERFORMANCE
I am very pleased to report that 2004/05 has 
been another outstanding year for BlueScope 
Steel. Our team’s performance over the three 
years since public listing has been among 
the best on the Australian Stock Exchange 
ASX 100 for all industries. 

When BlueScope Steel listed three years ago, 
we committed to operate by the guiding 
principles of Our Bond and to reward our 
shareholders. We have met those commitments.

In the past year, revenue has grown by 38% 
to a record $7.98 billion, demonstrating the 
strength of the relationships we have built 
with existing customers, and with new ones.

Net profit after tax was up 72% to 
$1.007 billion, a reflection of the strength 
of global steel markets and the performance 
of BlueScope Steel’s people. We are proud 
to be one of a select group of ASX-listed 
companies to have achieved a profit of over 
$1 billion in 2004/05. Earnings per share 
increased by 77% to $1.37 per share, 
compared to 78 cents last year. 

SHAREHOLDERS
During the year we continued to reward our 
shareholders. We declared a final dividend of 
24 cents per share and a special dividend 
of 20 cents per share, both fully franked. 

For the year, ordinary and special dividends 
totalled 62 cents per share, compared with 
40 cents per share last year. All were fully 
franked. Return on invested capital increased 
to 25.4%, up from last year’s strong result 
of 18.5%, and total shareholder return for 
the year was 30%, paid and declared in 
respect to 2004/05. In the last three years, 
$1.58 billion has been invested in share 
buybacks or dividends, which demonstrates 
our focus on returns to shareholders.   

EMPLOYEES AND COMMUNITIES
BlueScope Steel is committed to providing 
safe workplaces. The involvement in safety 
audits by 78% of our 17,500 employees 
worldwide is evidence of their commitment.  

Our Bond emphasises community respect 
and involvement. In 2004/05 this was 
underscored by donations of $2.2 million 
to community causes. This included a major 
tsunami relief initiative totalling over 
$1.26 million, with a large proportion donated 
directly by our employees. BlueScope Steel 
undertook many other community projects 
across Asia, New Zealand and the United 
States, as well as Australia.

It is interesting to reflect on how the $8 billion 
dollars of revenue we generated in 2004/05 
was distributed. $1.3 billion was paid in 
wages and salaries. $340 million was paid to 
shareholders as dividends, $330 million was 
used for share buybacks, $2.1 billion was spent 

on suppliers, services and utilities, $310 million 
was paid in income tax, and $660 million was 
re-invested in our Company’s growth projects, 
with a view to our future prosperity.   

CAPITAL MANAGEMENT 
We are proud of BlueScope Steel’s capital 
management record. Since public listing, our 
total return to shareholders, including ordinary 
and special dividends, and share buybacks to 
date is $2.09 per share – representing a 77% 
pay out ratio. A great advantage of our public 
listing has been the ability to re-invest in the 
business for future profitable growth. Over 
the past three years, we have invested more 
than $1.5 billion. This includes $724 million 
in 2004/05, with approximately $700 million 
anticipated in the 2005/06 financial year. By 
comparison, in the four years prior to listing, 
the average amount of capital invested each 
year was $120 million.  

Your Directors believe that BlueScope Steel 
has continued to meet the short and long term 
interests of shareholders with an appropriate 
balance between dividends, share buybacks 
and long-term growth investments. This is 
reflected in the fact that, in the period from our 
public listing on July 15 2002 to June 30 2005, 
our Total Shareholder Return (growth in share 
price plus dividends) has been among the 
highest of any ASX 100 company.  

PAGE 9

1.37

.778

.571

03

04

05

EARNINGS
PER SHARE ($)

FROM OUR PUBLIC LISTING TO 30 JUNE 2005, 
BLUESCOPE STEEL HAS BEEN AMONG THE 
BEST PERFORMING STOCKS ON THE ASX.

Pedestrian bridge on Hume Freeway, 
Lalor, Victoria

STRATEGY
We are implementing a strategy that will make 
BlueScope Steel a unique steel company: 
one that embodies excellence in steelmaking, 
and also delivers a broad range of innovative, 
valued steel products and solutions.      

So, with three years of outstanding results, 
and a long-term investment strategy that will 
help buffer us against steel price volatility, 
we are well on the way to establishing 
our credentials. We hope you now regard 
BlueScope Steel as a core holding in your 
share portfolio.

GOVERNANCE
BlueScope Steel complies with the ASX 
principles of Good Corporate Governance and 
Best Practice Recommendations. I believe the 
leadership shown by our Board of Directors, 
the values and standards that have been set, 
and the strategic guidance the Board has 
provided are of a high order.

We will continue to reward shareholders. 
In keeping with the principles of Our Bond, 
we will also continue to care for our 
employees, value our relationships with 
customers, and respect the communities 

in which we do business. I believe our future 
success will reflect our Company’s adherence 
to these ideals.

I would like to thank our 17,500 employees 
for their performance, Managing Director 
and CEO Kirby Adams and his team for their 
strong leadership, and my Board colleagues 
for their contribution.  

GRAHAM KRAEHE AO, CHAIRMAN

PAGE 10

CREATING 
OUR FUTURE

MANAGING DIRECTOR 
AND CEO’S REPORT

This past financial year has been an extraordinary one for
BlueScope Steel – a year in which we again rewarded our shareholders 
as we grew. Indeed, the year has been defined by growth. Revenue 
was up 38%, while NPAT was up 72% to $1.007 billion. 

IN 2006, WE WILL SEE THE FIRST 
BENEFITS OF A RE-BALANCED 
PORTFOLIO, AS WE ARE NOW 
MIDWAY THROUGH OUR 
$2 BILLION GROWTH PROGRAM, 
INVOLVING OVER 20 PROJECTS 
IN EIGHT COUNTRIES.

The current 2005/06 financial year will 
be an exciting period for your Company 
– the beginning of the phase in which we 
deliver on our mid and downstream growth 
initiatives. We have commenced operations 
at our second metallic coating facility in 
Thailand, and a number of major projects 
will follow, including our metallic coating 
and painting facility in Vietnam, which is due 
for start-up early in the 2006 calendar year. 
Supporting our growth is strong underlying 
cashflow, and a robust balance sheet.

SAFETY
We also care for 17,500 employees and 
contractors in 84 manufacturing sites across 
17 countries. BlueScope Steel continues to 
run a major safety program and we continue 
our drive for Zero Harm. Key indicators 
are very encouraging. Our lost time injury 
frequency rate (LTIFR) was a record low of 
less than one lost time injury per million 
hours worked during the year. Our medical 
treatment injury frequency rate (MTIFR) was 
9.2 medically treated injuries per million 
hours worked including our Butler operations, 
and 4.4 excluding Butler. Our Asian businesses 
were most impressive in this area, achieving 
16 million working hours without any lost 
time through injury. 

However, our safety achievements were 
marred by a tragic death. In the days 
following this fiscal year, an employee at 
our New Zealand Steel business was fatally 
injured at work. I have sent our deepest 
condolences to his family, friends and 
colleagues, and our recent Stop for Safety 
again emphasised the importance of safety 
and equipment isolation. Our goal of Zero 
Harm is the responsibility of us all. Every day, 
everywhere, without exception.

OUTSTANDING FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 
On behalf of our 17,500 employees, we have 
an outstanding set of results to report to 
our owners. Our total revenue was a record 
$7.98 billion, up $2.2 billion, or 38%, on the 
previous year. Of this amount, $1.2 billion was 
contributed by our recently acquired Butler 
businesses. Demand for our excellent BlueScope 
Steel products has been strong in all markets. 

Despatches were up 5% on the previous 
year, and EBIT was up $570 million, to a 
record $1.388 billion. 

NPAT was a record $1.007 billion, while earnings 
per share was $1.37, enhanced by our share 
buyback programs. Return on invested capital 
was a robust 25.4%, with return on equity 
30%, after tax. Net operating cashflows were 
up 37% to $1.2 billion. We used this cash in a 
balanced way, committing $660 million dollars 
to capital expenditure and investments, with 
$670 million returned to our shareholders.

PAGE 11

KIRBY ADAMS, 
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CEO

PAGE 12

25.4

1,388

18.5

14.5

818

611

160

THE NEXT FEW YEARS WILL BE EXCITING ONES, 
AS WE DELIVER ON OUR MIDSTREAM AND 
DOWNSTREAM GROWTH INITIATIVES AND 
FURTHER IMPROVE OUR STEELMAKING ASSETS.

03

04

05

02

03

04

05

EBIT ($MILLION)

AFTER TAX
RETURN ON 
INVESTED
CAPITAL (%)

One of our objectives has been to align the 
interests of our employees with the interests 
of you, our owners. Share ownership among 
employees is now approaching 100%. We 
believe a genuine sense of ownership among 
our employees is contributing to our Company’s 
strong performance. 

OUR GROWTH STRATEGY
Our renewal strategy continues, with significant 
growth initiatives ahead and underway. 
Many are now familiar with our program of 
faster growth for our mid and downstream 
businesses. Our aim is to re-balance our 
portfolio of businesses, thereby reducing 
cyclical risk. We are on schedule in our efforts 
to change the profile of your Company.

In the current year, we will see the first benefits 
of a re-balanced portfolio, as we deliver on 
this strategy. We are now midway through 
our $2 billion growth program, which involves 
over 20 major projects in eight countries. 

We have commissioned our new $80 million 
metallic coating facility in Thailand. Our 
$160 million metallic coating and painting 
facility in Vietnam will start up early in the 
2006 calendar year, with our $280 million 
China metallic coating and painting facility 
commencing operations in the middle of the 
2006 calendar year. 

During the year, we announced a $100 million 
investment program for India – a country that 
is entering a period of vigorous economic 
growth. Our downstream earnings will be 
boosted by a number of new facilities around 
the world, including our Western Sydney 
COLORBOND® facility, new rollforming and
pre-engineered building (PEB) facilities in 
China, our new Butler Manufacturing plant in 
Jackson, Tennessee, and the Western Australia 
Service Centre. We are also expanding our 
Vistawall extrusion plant in Tennessee. 

The resultant portfolio will comprise a unique 
multi-national franchise, with greater balance 
and diversification in terms of geography, 
products and markets. BlueScope Steel is 
uniquely positioned as the only pan-Asian 
provider of steel building solutions. 

A crucial part of this strategy is business 
excellence. Consequently, we continue our 
drive for excellence in areas such as cost 
reduction and capital efficient capacity 
increases. We continuously work on improving 
our offers to customers, improving technical 
support, delivery reliability and lead times, 
and managing volatility. New products are 
another focus in our drive for excellence, 
with great energy directed into research 
and development, product development and 
extensions, along with new global alliances 
and acquisitions.

ACHIEVING OUR BUSINESS GOALS 
Last year, we achieved many of our 
demanding goals with strong performance 
across our geographic footprint. We have 
now attained market leadership in a number 
of segments around the world, including 
PEBs in North America and China, downstream 
steel solutions in Asia and Australia, and 
an unmatched network of metallic coating, 
painting and rollforming facilities.

Our Asian businesses achieved stable profit 
performance, despite being faced with higher 
costs. This segment’s performance was affected 
by an increase of $19 million in pre-operating 
costs related to projects underway in China, 
India, Thailand and Vietnam. Higher feedstock 
costs were offset by increased prices, and the 
segment exceeded $1 billion in revenue for the 
first time. Our employees in Asia are continually 
pushing for growth in this energised region, 
which we consider a core growth corridor.    

In North America, we are working hard 
to build and transform our downstream 
businesses. Revenue for this business unit 
exceeded $1 billion, with the first half year 
showing a reasonable turnaround, while 
the second half was disappointing. However, 
even as this transformation is completed, the 
benefits of Butler and Vistawall capabilities 
are being felt across the company, particularly 
in Asia, where PEB markets are growing. 

PAGE 13

From left: Executive Leadership Team members 
Ian Cummin and Brian Kruger with Kirby Adams.

The stand out performance during the past 
year was from our three upstream steelmaking 
businesses. These operations responded 
with vigour to the high product margins 
experienced in the steelmaking industry, 
and generated revenue of almost $4 billion. 
Super-profitability was achieved by Port Kembla 
Steelworks, New Zealand Steel and the 
50% owned North Star BlueScope Steel in 
Ohio, USA. Total EBIT for this group was a 
record $1.521 billion, up 143% on last year. 
Production and safety records were set by 
all these businesses, while our North Star 
BlueScope Steel joint venture also cleared its 
debts and paid its first dividend to BlueScope 
Steel. Customers once again voted this business 
'the number one flat rolled steel supplier in 
North America', in the prestigious Jacobson 
survey. I congratulate all those involved in 
our very successful steelmaking operations 
in Australia, New Zealand and North America. 

Our downstream coated, painted, packaging, 
building products and steel solutions 
businesses in Australia dealt with a number 
of challenges during the year, including 
much higher input costs, strike actions and 
restructures. The second half saw a recovery, 
due to price increases, while our decision to 
exit the export packaging products business 
resulted in $25 million of restructuring costs. 
Demand for our colourful products remains 
strong, particularly in non-residential markets 
in Australia. 

OUTLOOK 
The 2004/05 financial year has been an 
exceptional one – the best in our Company’s 
87 year history. In the coming year, we expect 
strong demand for our products to continue. 
However, BlueScope Steel will again be 
affected by external cost pressures such 
as raw materials and freight. As a result 
of the mismatch between raw material 
prices and steel prices, we are absorbing 
an increase of approximately $600 million, 
or 90%, in raw material costs, and this 
cannot be entirely recovered this year. 
But by achieving increases in prices and 
production volumes, commissioning many 
new projects, and improving the performance 
of our acquisitions, we are working to make 
2005/06 at least our second-best year ever. 

Recent forecasts of GDP growth rates for the 
2006 financial year indicate continuing good 
levels of growth in Australia, New Zealand, 
the USA, China and South East Asia. China’s 
GDP is expected to grow at greater than 5%, 
with global GDP growth exceeding 3%. These 
forecasts confirm the economic premise on 
which our growth strategy is based, and 
suggest our regional economy will continue 
to be the fastest growing steel products 
market in the world. 

In October 2004, I addressed the Board of 
the International Iron and Steel Institute 
on ways in which our global steel industry 
could improve itself. As Institute Chairman, 
I called for greater industry consolidation, 
and for a more responsible approach to 
capacity expansion. It is heartening to see 
evidence of these trends at play in the global 
steel industry. For example, China, which now 
has steel companies that are members of the 
IISI, has announced measures in both these 
areas. As a supplier to China’s building and 
construction markets, we welcome moves 
that contribute to more stable growth. 

BlueScope Steel achieved more last year than 
most would have anticipated. So I thank our 
shareholders for investing in BlueScope Steel, 
our customers for their continuing confidence and 
business, and our communities for hosting our 
operations and continuing to use our beautiful 
and colourful steel products and solutions. 

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of 
our employees. BlueScope Steel’s achievements 
reflect the high calibre of our people. With few 
exceptions, they are talented, dedicated, and 
innovative. They are team players and people 
of integrity. And importantly, they care for their 
colleagues, our customers, their communities, 
and our shareholders. I thank them all for these 
extraordinary results.

KIRBY ADAMS, 
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CEO

PAGE 14

OUR 
BOND 

WE AND OUR CUSTOMERS PROUDLY BRING INSPIRATION, 
STRENGTH AND COLOUR TO COMMUNITIES WITH BLUESCOPE STEEL.

OUR CUSTOMERS ARE OUR PARTNERS
Our success depends on our customers 
and suppliers choosing us. Our strength 
lies in working closely with them to 
create value and trust, together with 
superior products, service and ideas.

OUR PEOPLE ARE OUR STRENGTH
Our success comes from our people. We 
work in a safe and satisfying environment. 
We choose to treat each other with trust 
and respect and maintain a healthy 
balance between work and family life. 
Our experience, teamwork and ability to 
deliver steel inspired solutions are our 
most valued and rewarded strengths.

OUR SHAREHOLDERS 
ARE OUR FOUNDATIONS
Our success is made possible by the 
shareholders and lenders who choose 
to invest in us. In return, we commit to 
continuing profitability and growth in 
value, which together make us stronger.

OUR COMMUNITIES ARE OUR HOMES
Our success relies on communities 
supporting our business and products. 
In turn, we care for the environment, 
create wealth, respect local values and 
encourage involvement. Our strength is 
in choosing to do what is right.

Employees at Port Kembla Steelworks.

PAGE 15

INVESTING 
FOR GROWTH

OUR STRATEGY IN ACTION.

We call these our ‘downstream’ businesses, and
they market our brands such as COLORBOND® 
and ZINCALUME® steel, LYSAGHT® steel 
building solutions, and BUTLER® pre-engineered 
buildings (PEB) to intermediate suppliers, and 
directly to end-use customers.

Over the last three years, we have invested 
heavily in our downstream businesses, pushing 
further into high value-added, branded steel 
products. This investment strategy aims to 
capture the profit margins that accumulate as 
we retain steel and add progressively greater 
value to it.  

For example, in April 2004 we acquired Butler 
Manufacturing, an iconic PEB business in 
North America and a market leader in China. 
So, in this niche, we now occupy every stage 
of the value chain. We make steel, we make 
building products from that steel, and we 
design, market and supply buildings made 
from those products. 

Importantly, the margins on value-added 
steel products are less volatile than those 
obtainable on commodities such as steel slab 
and hot rolled coil. Therefore, we expect our 
investment strategy to help insulate BlueScope 
Steel against the effects of future volatility 
in global steel pricing. As a large part of our 
new capital investment is in Asia, we are also 
aligning our growth with that of the world’s 
fastest growing economies. 

The global steel market has been historically 
volatile, and this has driven capital away from 
steel companies. Our aim is to reduce the 
effects of this volatility, enhancing stable growth, 
and making BlueScope Steel a prosperous, 
long-term home for our shareholders’ capital.

It is this which makes us a different kind of 
steel company.

Our products are highlighted in (from left): 
BlueScope Lysaght office in Indonesia – 
a BUTLER® pre-engineered building;
the Landcare building in New Zealand.

WE CONTINUE OUR PUSH 
INTO HIGH-VALUE STEEL 
MARKETS WITH OUR 
BRANDED STEEL SOLUTIONS. 

Since our listing on the Australian Stock 
Exchange in 2002, BlueScope Steel has 
designed and implemented an investment 
strategy that differentiates us from many 
other steel companies. A brief summary of 
our operations will assist your understanding 
of this strategy. 

Our Company manufactures steel slab, hot 
rolled coil and plate at our three steelmaking 
facilities. We call these our ‘upstream’ 
businesses. However, we differ from many 
steel companies in that we retain a large 
proportion of our steel and further process 
it, primarily into building products, while we 
also supply the automotive, manufacturing, 
whitegoods and packaging sectors in Australia. 

This processing and marketing is done through 
BlueScope Steel businesses such as Australian 
Manufacturing Markets; BlueScope Lysaght; 
our Asia Coated and Building Products 
businesses including BlueScope Buildings; 
and Butler Buildings in North America. 

PAGE 16

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM

Clockwise from top left: 
Kirby Adams, Noel Cornish, 
Brian Kruger, Lance Hockridge, 
Ian Cummin, Mike Courtnall 
and Kathryn Fagg.

KIRBY ADAMS is Managing Director and 
Chief Executive Officer of BlueScope Steel. 
Mr Adams was appointed to the Board on 
10 May 2002, having been Chief Executive 
Officer of BHP Steel since March 2000.

NOEL CORNISH is President of Australian 
and New Zealand Industrial Markets, with 
responsibility for the Port Kembla Steelworks 
and New Zealand Steel businesses. For the 
previous three years he was President of 
our Coated Products business in Australia.  

BRIAN KRUGER is President of Australian 
Manufacturing Markets. This unit comprises 
our Illawarra Coated Products business, 
including the Springhill facility, our Western 
Port operation and our Service Centre 
network. Mr Kruger succeeded Mr Cornish 
in this role in July 2005, having previously 
been Chief Financial Officer. 

LANCE HOCKRIDGE is President of our 
North America business unit. This unit 
comprises North Star BlueScope Steel, 
Butler Buildings, Vistawall and Castrip LLC. 
Mr Hockridge has held this position since 
April 2005. He was previously President 
of Industrial Markets, a position he held 
since 2000.  

KATHRYN FAGG is President of Australian 
Building and Logistics Solutions. This 
business unit comprises BlueScope Lysaght, 
BlueScope Water, Logistics and International 
Trade Services. Ms Fagg is also responsible 
for Information Systems and corporate 
brand management.

MIKE COURTNALL is President of Asian 
Building and Manufacturing Markets. He has 
been responsible for BlueScope Steel’s Asian 
businesses since 2000.

IAN CUMMIN is responsible for People 
and Performance. This role includes Human 
Resources, Safety and Corporate Affairs.

PAGE 17

Product development and brand building 
are critical to our future growth. BlueScope 
Steel offers many highly regarded brands to 
the market, and these represent important 
assets to our business. In Australia, our core 
brands – COLORBOND®, ZINCALUME®, 
and XLERPLATE® steels and the LYSAGHT® 
range – are market leaders in the building, 
construction, and manufacturing industries. 

Our BlueScope Water business adds more 
brands to our portfolio, including HYDRORIB® 
drainage pipes, WATERPOINT® rainwater 
tanks, AGRIRIB® low-pressure irrigation pipe, 
and GALAXY™ water tanks. While our Butler 
Manufacturing business brings us the iconic 
BUTLER® brand, as well as the VISTAWALL™ 
architectural product range. Region-specific 
brands, such as new Clean COLORBOND® 
steel, enhance our reputation as a provider of 
solutions for demanding conditions.   

We are constantly looking for ways to leverage 
our brands. Two examples are fencing made 
from COLORBOND® steel and our TRUECORE® 
steel house framing. We are also expanding 
our renowned LYSAGHT® range of steel 
building solutions across our global footprint. 

WE CONTINUE TO BUILD 
VALUE BY LEVERAGING 
ESTABLISHED BRANDS AND 
INTRODUCING NEW ONES.

During the year, we introduced a customer 
partnership program to further increase 
the value of the BlueScope Steel brand. 
The program, named ‘Steel By’ allows our 
customers to benefit from our Company brand 
through the inclusion of the BlueScope Steel 
partnership logo in their promotional material. 
This logo is accompanied by the statements: 
‘Steel Manufactured By BlueScope Steel’ 
or ‘Steel Supplied By BlueScope Steel.’

BUILDING
BRANDS

PAGE 18

BUSINESS OVERVIEW
BLUESCOPE STEEL BUSINESS SEGMENTS

CORPORATE AND GROUP

HIGHLIGHTS

(cid:129)  Record results for Net Profit After Tax of 
$1.007 billion, and Earnings per Share 
of $1.37.

(cid:129)  Rewarded shareholders with total dividends 
announced for FY2005 of 62 cents per share, 
fully franked.

(cid:129)  Share buyback programs achieved 24.4 million 

net reduction in shares, resulting in 3% 
improvement in future earnings per share.
(cid:129)  Lost time injury frequency rate for Group was 
a record low 0.8 hours lost per million hours 
worked during year.

(cid:129)  $2 billion growth program underway 
involving over 20 major projects in 
eight countries.

COATED AND BUILDING PRODUCTS 
ASIA

COATED AND BUILDING PRODUCTS 
AUSTRALIA

KEY CUSTOMERS: Building and construction 
industries and general manufacturers.

HIGHLIGHTS

(cid:129)  40th anniversary of operations in Asia.
(cid:129)  Announced $100 million investment in 

India to construct three new manufacturing 
facilities at Pune, Chennai and New Delhi.
(cid:129)  BlueScope Steel China team secured contract 
to supply steel building products for world’s 
tallest building, under construction in Shanghai.

(cid:129)  Asia-wide launch of new, improved Clean 

COLORBOND® steel.

(cid:129)  Entered into alliance with Nippon Steel 
for marketing of corrosion-resistant 
SuperDymaTM steel.

(cid:129)  Investments in major capital projects 

in Thailand, Vietnam and China underway.

KEY CUSTOMERS: Building, construction, 
automotive and packaging industries and 
general manufacturers.

HIGHLIGHTS

(cid:129)  Springhill achieved annual despatch record 
(1.005 mt) – the third consecutive annual 
record and first time 1.0 mt reached.

(cid:129)  Four year site-based Enterprise Bargaining 
Agreement (EBA) at Western Port certified.

(cid:129)  New products launched included W-Dek‚ 

Quikform and new improved ZINCALUME®.

(cid:129)  Construction of new state of the art  

COLORBOND® facility in western Sydney.
(cid:129)  BlueScope Water urban rainwater tank and 

drainage pipe production facilities established 
in Victoria, NSW and Queensland. Perth-based 
Pioneer Water Tanks acquired.

600
74

EXTERNAL DESPATCHES ('000s of tonnes)
Domestic 
Export 
REVENUE 
EBIT 
NET OPERATING ASSETS
(pre-tax) 
RETURN ON NET ASSETS
(pre-tax) 

$ 1.05 billion
$82 million

$ 878 million

 11.5%

  1,915
477

EXTERNAL DESPATCHES ('000s of tonnes)
Domestic 
Export 
REVENUE 
EBIT 
NET OPERATING ASSETS
(pre-tax) 
RETURN ON NET ASSETS
(pre-tax)                     (8.7%) 

$3.19 billion
($116 million)

$1.427 billion

TOTAL SALES % (TONNES)

TOTAL SALES % (TONNES)

100

80

ASIA

AUSTRALIA

10

10

ASIA REST OF 

WORLD

 
 
 
PAGE 19

HOT ROLLED PRODUCTS

NEW ZEALAND STEEL

KEY CUSTOMERS:  Engineering, construction, 
mining and manufacturing industries and 
export customers who re-roll our steel.

KEY CUSTOMERS: Building and 
construction industry, roll-formers 
and manufacturing industries. 

COATED AND BUILDING PRODUCTS 
NORTH AMERICA

KEY CUSTOMERS: Consumers of 
pre-engineered buildings (PEB) and 
aluminium and glass architectural products.

HIGHLIGHTS

HIGHLIGHTS

HIGHLIGHTS

(cid:129)  Port Kembla maintained near-record raw 

steel production (5.123 mt).

(cid:129)  Achieved record annual hot rolled coil 

production (2.522 mt).

(cid:129)  Record annual production (1.824 mt) 

and record annual despatches (1.778 mt) 
at North Star BlueScope Steel.

(cid:129)  North Star BlueScope Steel voted number 

one flat rolled steel supplier in North America 
for third consecutive year in the Jacobson 
survey of steel customers.

(cid:129)  Record sales revenue of $756 million.
(cid:129)  Strong results in both domestic and export 
markets, with record domestic despatches 
of 315,000 tonnes.

(cid:129)  Three year Employment Contract agreed, 
with no lost time or industrial action.

(cid:129)  Improvements to management systems and 
replacement of ageing finance, maintenance 
and supply systems to support improved 
productivity.

(cid:129)  Integration completed, and transformation 
of business underway with establishment 
of five regional profit centres and new 
management team.

(cid:129)  Work performance system implemented to 
increase production capability, reduce costs 
and improve inventory management. 
(cid:129)  Robust Vistawall business continues to 

grow well.

(cid:129)  Production at high-cost Galesburg facility 

ceased in April.

EXTERNAL DESPATCHES ('000s of tonnes)
Port Kembla  North Star  Total 
1,933
883 
1,383
6 

Domestic  1,050 
Export 
1,377 
REVENUE 
EBIT 
NET OPERATING ASSETS
(pre-tax) 
RETURN ON NET ASSETS
(pre-tax) 

66.5%

$3.94 billion*
$1.338 billion

$2.03 billion

315
276
$756 million
$183 million

EXTERNAL DESPATCHES ('000s of tonnes)
Domestic 
Export 
REVENUE 
EBIT 
NET OPERATING ASSETS
(pre-tax) 
RETURN ON NET ASSETS
(pre-tax) 

$474 million

39.3%

177
10
$1.135 billion
($20 million)

EXTERNAL DESPATCHES ('000s of tonnes)
Domestic 
Export 
REVENUE 
EBIT 
NET OPERATING ASSETS
(pre-tax) 
RETURN ON NET ASSETS
(pre-tax) 

$234 million

(8.4%)

* excludes North Star BlueScope Steel

TOTAL SALES % (TONNES)

TOTAL SALES % (TONNES)

TOTAL SALES % (TONNES)

60

20

20

50

20

20

10

100

AUSTRALIA

AMERICAS

REST OF WORLD

NEW ZEALAND/PACIFIC

AUSTRALIA

AMERICAS

ASIA

AMERICAS

 
 
 
 
 
PAGE 20

ASIA

DIVERSE. 
ENERGISED

THROUGH OUR BUSINESSES IN ASIA, 
WE ARE ALIGNING OUR GROWTH 
WITH SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST 
VIGOROUS ECONOMIES.

ASIA COATED AND 
BUILDING PRODUCTS
The world’s economic centre 
of gravity continued its shift 
toward Asia in 2004/05. We 
are extremely well positioned 
in this exciting region, and have 
continued investing in our Coated 
and Building Products Asia 
business, growing our painting, 
metallic coating, rollforming and 
pre-engineered buildings (PEB) 
operations across Asia. 

BlueScope Steel is Asia’s leading PEB 
manufacturer, and our rollforming, painting and 
metallic coating network is the region’s most 
extensive. We are a leading Australian investor 
in Asia, and in 2004/05 we achieved a major 
milestone with 40 years experience ‘on the ground’ 
in the region. Our Asian business unit consists 
of metallic coating and painting operations 
in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia; BlueScope 
Buildings (formerly Butler and Lysaght) facilities 
in China; and BlueScope Lysaght operations in 
eight other countries in Asia. 

In the 2004/05 financial year we continued 
expanding our business platform to further 
capitalise on Asia’s economic growth. We have 
a number of exciting new projects in the region. 
These include an additional metallic coating line 
in Thailand, and metallic coating and painting 
facilities in Vietnam and China, which will double 
our capacity to approximately one million tonnes. 
We have also approved major projects in China, 
Thailand and India to manufacture the LYSAGHT® 
and BUTLER® range of building solutions. In total, 
BlueScope Steel has now committed over $710 
million to investments in Asia in the last two years.

For Coated and Building Products Asia, 
2004/05 saw a pause in the continuous profit 
growth of the preceding five years. This is a 
result of increased business development and 

pre-production costs, adverse foreign exchange 
movements and profit from asset sales 
impacting on the previous year’s results. 

EBIT for the year was $82 million, down from 
$104 million in 2003/04. Higher steel purchase 
prices were offset by increased selling prices. 

In 2004/05, sales revenue was $1.051 billion, 
up from $699 million the previous year, greatly 
assisted by the full-year contribution and higher 
selling prices of BUTLER® PEBs. The full year 
effect of our Butler Manufacturing acquisition 
was significant, with the Butler business in 
China contributing EBIT of $16 million. Volumes 
increased year on year predominantly due 
to Butler. Growth in the coating lines was 
constrained by capacity. 

Our investment strategy recognises the strong 
long-term growth potential of Asia’s economies. 
We are creating new markets across Asia for 
premium steel building products such as Clean 
COLORBOND® steel and ZINCALUME® steel, 
and advanced solutions such as LYSAGHT® 
building products and BUTLER® PEBs. 

Our approach to growing local markets requires 
continued investment to meet demand for steel 
products. We expect to reap benefits as our 
new downstream operations begin to generate 
earnings from the rapidly growing Asian 
construction market over the coming few years.

Our businesses in Asia delivered many highlights 
in 2004/05. The BlueScope Steel China team 
secured the contract to supply steel building 
products for the world’s tallest building. We 
executed a successful Asia-wide launch of new, 
improved Clean COLORBOND® steel, and we 
enhanced our reputation for quality through an 
alliance with Nippon Steel Corporation for the 
marketing of corrosion-resistant SuperDyma™ 
steel. In addition, we have continued to 
implement an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) 
platform for our businesses in Asia. Malaysia 
and Indonesia are operating under this system, 
while ERP work continued in China and Vietnam.

PAGE 21

We now employ over 3,000 people across Asia, including sales engineer Pang Howe 
Koh, in Singapore, (below) and marketing executive Rachimi Hidayat, in Cibitung, 
Indonesia (bottom left). Our steel building products feature in many examples 
of contemporary architecture throughout the region. 

PAGE 22

Clockwise from top left: BlueScope Lysaght Indonesia 
employee Ardhian Yoga Oetoro; a unique expression of 
COLORBOND® steel rollformed into tiles in Indonesia; 
Suzhou facility under construction in China.

CHINA
BlueScope Steel is well positioned to grow in 
the expanding Chinese steel building products 
and pre-engineered buildings markets. We 
began in-country operations in China in 1995, 
and now run six manufacturing plants across 
the country, as well as one in Taiwan, with 
three more facilities being developed.

In 2004/05, building construction continued on 
our $280 million metallic coating and painting 
facility at Suzhou, 80 km west of Shanghai. 
An impressive facility is taking shape, and 
commissioning is planned for the middle of 2006 
calendar year. During the year, we achieved 
an important step with the successful launch 
of our ZINCALUME® steel brand into China. 

We also merged our Butler and Lysaght 
operations, with the integrated BlueScope 
Buildings China business managed by one team. 
Accordingly, we approved our Company’s 
first combined BUTLER® PEB-LYSAGHT® 
facility. The plant, located in Guangzhou, will 
cost $45 million. Site works are progressing, 
registrations and approvals are complete, 
and the project is on schedule for completion 
by the middle of 2006 calendar year. 

During the year, we expanded our BlueScope 
Buildings Tianjin site into a full-service PEB 
operation, investing in a new beam fabricating 
line with a capacity of 12,000 tonnes per 
annum. The $8 million Tianjin project was 
completed on time and under budget. To meet 
the ever-increasing demand for sophisticated 
building products, we approved a $16 million 
expansion of our Langfang facility to produce 
architectural and sandwich panels for 
premium facade applications. 

In 2004/05 our China team successfully bid 
for a Shanghai World Finance Center contract, 
calling for supply of 220,000 square metres 
of LYSAGHT 3W-DEK. The structural decking 
product will form part of the flooring system 
in what will become the world’s tallest 
building. This 101-storey Shanghai project is 
yet another showcase for BlueScope Steel in 
China, and enhances our reputation for steel 
building products of the highest quality. 

During the year, the Chinese government 
tightened funding available to local companies, 
and this policy altered our BlueScope Buildings 
China customer base. Sales to large Chinese 
companies have fallen, but we have increased 
sales to foreign-owned direct investors. 

 
PAGE 23

1,051

104

84

82

699

71

569

530

02

03

04

05

02

03

04

05

REVENUE ($MILLION)

EBIT ($MILLION)

COATED AND BUILDING PRODUCTS 
ASIA

INDIA 
Alongside China, India is emerging as a major 
economic powerhouse, with a consequent 
increase in building and construction sector 
demand. BlueScope Steel has been creating 
markets for COLORBOND® and ZINCALUME® 
steels in India since 1998, and in 2004/05 we 
announced an investment of $100 million in 
three new manufacturing facilities to meet 
growing demand. This represents our 
largest-ever initial greenfield downstream 
investment in any country. These new 
facilities are at New Delhi in the north, 
Pune in the west, and Chennai in the south.

The Pune facility, which will manufacture 
BUTLER® PEBs, and include a Design Centre, 
is due for start-up in the second half of the 2006 
calendar year. The New Delhi and Chennai 
plants will provide Lysaght rollforming 
services, and offer a full range of LYSAGHT® 
products. They will commence operations in 
mid-2007 calendar year. A network of 18 new 
sales offices will help grow our reach in the 
Indian building and construction markets.

We are also examining the feasibility of a 
joint venture with India’s respected Tata Steel, 
in a metallic coating and painting operation. 
We expect discussions with Tata Steel to be 
completed in early 2006 calendar year. The 
JV, if formed, would also include our existing 
downstream investments.

INDONESIA 
PT BlueScope Steel Indonesia is the country’s 
only local manufacturer of zinc/aluminium 
metallic coated and pre-painted steel. We 
market a number of Indonesia-only brands, 
including PELANGI® steel, ABADI® steel, 
and GEMILANG® steel. BlueScope Lysaght 
Indonesia services growing building and 
construction markets through facilities at 
Cibitung, Medan and Surabaya. 

Local demand was strong throughout the 
year. Enquiries related to the reconstruction 
of Aceh have been high, and orders have 
been secured for thousands of steel houses.
In 2004/05, our metallic coating and painting 
facility at Cilegon continued to operate at 
full capacity, producing record tonnages of 
metallic coated and painted steel.

Our new Lysaght factory and coating line 
warehouse represents the first use of our 
own PEB design for a BlueScope Steel facility. 
The project was completed within six months 
of breaking ground, and boosts Lysaght’s 
presence in the Indonesian building products 
market. In April, BlueScope Steel entered 
into an arrangement with leading Indonesian 
company PT Krakatau Steel, under which 
they are supplied with steel slab from Port 
Kembla Steelworks. The steel slab processed 
by Krakatau Steel is then supplied as coil to 
some of our Asian facilities. The arrangement 
potentially contributes $100 million to the 
vital Australia-Indonesia trade relationship.

MALAYSIA
BlueScope Steel Malaysia, a joint venture with 
PNB Equity Resource Corporation Sdn Bhd, is 
the country’s only local manufacturer of both 
ZINCALUME® steel and Clean COLORBOND® 
steel. The business supplies markets in 
Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Sri Lanka.

We operate a metallic coating and painting 
facility at Kapar, Selangor, and three BlueScope 
Lysaght rollforming plants in Shah Alam, 
Kota Kinabalu and Bintulu. In addition, 
BlueScope Lysaght operates in Singapore and 
Brunei. Production levels of metallic coated 
steel were in line with last year, with a portion 
going to the export market. The business 
achieved record production of painted steel. 
Our Malaysian operation is currently a major 
supplier of feedstock to our China businesses. 

THAILAND
BlueScope Steel (Thailand) Limited is a joint 
venture with Thai investor Loxley Public 
Company Limited. We operate a cold rolling, 
metallic coating and painting facility at 

Map Ta Phut in Rayong province, manufacturing 
ZINCALUME® steel, Clean COLORBOND® 
steel and TRUZINC® zinc coated steel. 
BlueScope Lysaght Thailand operates 
rollforming facilities at Bangkok, Khon Kaen 
and Rayong. In 2004/05, strong demand for 
premium products such as ZINCALUME® 
steel, Clean COLORBOND® steel and Ultima 
Hi Rib® sheeting resulted in an increase in 
total domestic volumes over the previous year.

A second metallic coating line in Rayong 
costing $80 million has commenced operations. 
This expanded plant has a total metal coating 
capacity of 385,000 tonnes per annum, some 
of which will be used to initially seed markets 
in Vietnam and China. Our cold rolling mill 
capacity is also being ramped up from 260,000 
to 350,000 tonnes per year to better meet the 
requirements of two metallic coating lines.  

In June 2005, we announced an initial $18 million 
investment in a PEB manufacturing facility to 
be built at Rayong, adjacent to our metallic 
coating and painting operation. This will be 
Thailand’s first dedicated PEB facility, and will 
enhance our ability to deliver high value steel 
solutions to Thailand’s building and construction 
markets, and to markets in neighbouring 
countries. It is scheduled for commissioning 
during the third quarter of calendar year 2006. 
BlueScope Steel is Australia’s single 
largest investor in Thailand, with more than 
$280 million invested (BlueScope Steel share) 
over the past eight years.

VIETNAM
BlueScope Lysaght has rollforming facilities 
in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The business 
has been operating in Vietnam since 1993. The 
resultant increase in demand for our premium 
steel building products led to last year’s approval 
of a $160 million metallic coating and painting 
facility at Ba Ria, near Ho Chi Minh City. 

Building construction on this facility is complete, 
equipment installation is on schedule, and 
we expect to commence operating early in 
2006 calendar year. Our production capacity 
will ultimately be 125,000 tonnes of metallic 
coated, and 50,000 tonnes of painted steel 
products per year.

During the year, BlueScope Lysaght Vietnam 
commissioned and launched SMARTRUSS™ 
into the market place. Investment is also 
being made in a steel tile manufacturing 
facility to commence production in the first 
quarter of 2006.  

PAGE 24

AUSTRALIA
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING 
AND LOGISTICS SOLUTIONS

IMAGINE.
INSPIRE

A COLORBOND® steel roof lends a dynamic profile 
to the award-winning Wheatsheaf Residence in Central Victoria.

A celebration of steel (clockwise from right): 
Daniel Wyatt and Christine Slade, BlueScope 
Water, Keysborough, Victoria; Nambool Visitor 
and Accommodation Complex and Environmental 
Learning Centre, Victoria; Colonial Brewing 
Company, Margaret River, Western Australia.

PAGE 25

CONTINUOUS PRODUCT 
INNOVATION, STRONG 
BRANDS AND RAPID 
RESPONSE KEPT US AHEAD 
IN A TIGHT MARKET.

This business includes Lysaght and 
BlueScope Water. Both operate in high-value 
steel markets that demand advanced products 
and a strong customer focus. Our iconic 
LYSAGHT® range of steel building solutions 
inspires Australia’s architects and builders, 
while BlueScope Water offers imaginative 
solutions for a changing world. Our logistics 
business brings our steel products and 
solutions to customers around the world. 

BLUESCOPE LYSAGHT
BlueScope Lysaght Australia manufactures 
and distributes LYSAGHT® brand steel 
products and services to the building and 
construction sectors. The brand is almost 
100 years old, and holds an enviable 
reputation for quality. Lysaght products 
are made primarily made from COLORBOND®, 
ZINCALUME®,  DECKFORM® and GALVASPAN® 
steels. These are purchased from our 
upstream business and rollformed to make 
roofing and walling, structural, formwork, 
framing, fencing and home improvement 
products. LYSAGHT® branded products are 
manufactured and marketed through 34 
BlueScope Lysaght sites across Australia.

In 2004/05, BlueScope Lysaght continued to 
boost its manufacturing, sales and marketing 
capabilities. In December 2004, we acquired 

Ranbuild, a successful designer and distributor 
of prefabricated steel garages, barns and farm 
sheds, with a comprehensive re-seller network 
across Australia. Ranbuild has been 
operating since 1948, and has a longstanding 
commercial relationship with BlueScope Steel. 
The acquisition is meeting expectations.   

During the year, we launched a number of 
new products and services, including Mobile 
Roll Forming which offers customers on-site 
manufacture of long roof sheeting; W-Dek, 
an economical structural decking system; and 
Quikform, a load-bearing concrete walling 
system that enables fast multi-storey construction. 

We also opened several sites during the year. 
Our new Home Improvement Centres are 
capitalising on rapid growth in Sydney’s west 
and Melbourne’s southeast, while new Trade 
Distribution Centres have been well received 
in Queensland and Victoria.

BLUESCOPE WATER
Water shortages and water quality continue 
to be a significant issue for many communities. 
The BlueScope Water business complements 
an increased emphasis on water conservation 
across all BlueScope Steel’s operations. 

During 2004/05, BlueScope Water developed 
both manufacturing and retail capabilities in 
Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to service the 
growing urban market for tanks and rainwater 
harvesting systems. While rainwater tanks are 
common in rural Australia, they are becoming 
more prevalent in cities, in response to urban 
Australians’ greater awareness of water 
scarcity. The acquisition of Perth-based Pioneer 
Water Tanks in May has further expanded 

the product and geographic footprint of 
BlueScope Water. Our product portfolio now 
includes rural, industrial and commercial water 
storage tanks up to 2.5 million litres. We 
service Australian markets as well as a growing 
export market that covers some 20 countries. 

Along with the recently established product 
brands HYDRORIB® drainage pipes, WATERPOINT 
CLASSIC® and WATERPOINT SLIMLINE® 
rainwater tanks, several new brands were 
added through the year. These include 
AGRIRIB® low pressure irrigation pipe and 
GALAXY™ water tanks from Pioneer Water 
Tanks. BlueScope Water is well positioned 
for growth in this emerging market.

LOGISTICS 
BlueScope Steel is one of Australia’s largest 
users of domestic road and rail services, and 
a major customer of international shipping 
services. Strong logistics capability is 
essential to the success of our operations.

In 2004/05, our Company faced significant 
increases in marine freight costs. However, 
our longer-term contracts partly offset the 
effect of spot price movements, with iron ore 
import freight costs remaining substantially 
below prevailing market rates. Nevertheless, 
our marine freight costs increased by 
$70 million during the year. 

To ensure our Company’s new markets are fully 
serviced, we developed a number of key 
logistics partnerships across our Asian business 
in 2004/05. In Australia, strategic improvements 
continued, including a significant review of 
our rail contracts, as well as a number of 
marine and road-based contracts.

PAGE 26

AUSTRALIA
AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING MARKETS

INNOVATE.
COLOUR

Australian Manufacturing Markets delivers innovative steel products to the building and 
construction, manufacturing, automotive and packaging industries, and to export customers. 
This business segment produces COLORBOND® steel and ZINCALUME® steel – two of 
Australian industry’s best-known brands. These are foundation products for a wide range 
of steel applications, and bring unique structural and aesthetic choices to the market.

2.9

2.7

2.4

3.2

193

119

57

(116)

02

03

04

05

02

03

04

05

REVENUE ($BILLION)

EBIT ($MILLION)

COATED AND BUILDING PRODUCTS 
AUSTRALIA

2004/05 was a difficult year for this business 
segment, as it dealt with the impact of 
dramatic increases in steel feedstock prices, 
as well as industrial action. This led to the 
segment recording an EBIT loss of $116 million. 
The second half-year saw earnings improve 
significantly as selling-price increases were 
implemented to restore margins. Our decision 
to withdraw from the export tinplate 
market resulted in $25 million of additional 
depreciation and restructure costs. Sales 
revenue for the year was up to $3.19 billion, 
compared with $2.88 billion the previous year.

WESTERN PORT
Our Western Port facility converts steel 
slab from Port Kembla into hot and cold 
rolled coil and metallic coated and painted 
steel products, including ZINCALUME® 
and COLORBOND® steels. Western Port 
is an important part of southern Australia’s 
manufacturing and building sectors. 

Industrial action during the year delayed 
completion of planned maintenance on 
the hot strip mill, cold strip mill, and other 
plants, and deprived Western Port of around 
130,000 tonnes of production, at a cost 
of $40 million. Regrettably, many of our 
customers also experienced considerable 
disruption to their operations.  

However, a site-based Enterprise Bargaining 
Agreement (EBA) was certified in March 2005, 
covering a four-year period. Our people put 
enormous energy into business recovery during 
the year, restoring delivery performance levels 
and ensuring our customers are restocked. 
Work to expand metallic coating capacity 
will be completed around the end of the 2005 
calendar year, and will increase this capacity 
by 30,000 tonnes per annum. 

Replacement of pickle tanks was successfully 
completed in January 2005. This will increase 
capacity by 15,000 tonnes per annum, and 
improve energy costs and operational security.

ILLAWARRA COATED PRODUCTS
In the Illawarra region of NSW, adjacent to 
Port Kembla Steelworks, we operate a group 
of facilities that convert steel feedstock to 
branded BlueScope Steel products such as 
COLORBOND® and ZINCALUME® steels. 
Tinplate and blackplate for our Australian 
packaging industry customers are also 
produced at this site.

In 2004/05, our Springhill coated steel plant 
again achieved several production records. 
For the first time the plant exceeded one million 
tonnes in total despatches, up 69,000 tonnes 
on last year, to 1.005 million tonnes. This was 
the plant’s third successive record year for 
total despatches, while it also achieved the 
milestone of producing its 20 millionth tonne 
of metallic coated steel. 

PAGE 27

Separate production records were set by 
Springhill’s rolling, metal coating, and 
painting operations. The cold rolling 
operation produced 934,000 tonnes, up 
from 901,000 tonnes the previous year. The 
metal coating operation produced 761,000 
tonnes, up from 742,000 in 2003/04. The 
painting operation produced 158,000 tonnes, 
up from 152,000 in 2003/04. This excellent 
performance reflects the plant’s strong focus 
on quality and manufacturing excellence.

In 2004/05, brownfields initiatives continued 
to raise capacity and reduce costs. 
Modifications to paintline ovens, completed 
in March 2005, will deliver an additional 
12,000 tonnes per year, while improvements 
to metal coating lines will deliver a full-year 
capacity increase of 35,000 tonnes.  

After endeavouring for many years to make our 
packaging products business profitable in an 
oversupplied global market, we decided in 
April 2005 to withdraw from the export tinplate 
market. This will allow an additional 250,000 
tonnes of hot rolled coil to be redirected to 
other, more profitable BlueScope Steel products 
and markets. During 2004/05, the packaging 
products business contributed an EBIT loss 
of $109 million to this business segment. 

However, BlueScope Steel remains committed 
to the Australian packaging market. At the 
end of 2004/05, we negotiated new contracts
with our major domestic customers. 

Clockwise from top: Canberra International Sports 
and Aquatic Centre, a design detail from the Centre; 
Leanne Barrett, customer service manager, whose 
customers include Australian Manufacturing Markets.

WE DEALT WITH A NUMBER 
OF CHALLENGES TO IMPROVE 
OUR EARNINGS IN THE 
SECOND HALF. 

These commitments reflect our strong value 
proposition, and will assist the ongoing 
viability of our domestic tinplate business. 
For the expected impact of the restructure 
of packaging products during 2005/06, 
please refer to page 68, Note 2 – 
‘Australian Equivalents to International 
Financial Reporting Standards.’

SERVICE CENTRE NETWORK
BlueScope Steel’s Service Centre network 
processes flat steel products for use by the 
building and construction, automotive, 
whitegoods and rural sectors, and generates 
around 40 per cent of our Australian state-
based sales of coated and painted products. 
The seven sites offer custom slitting and 
shearing services, while three – Acacia Ridge 
in Queensland, CRM at Port Kembla, and 
Chullora in NSW – also operate paint lines.   

In 2004/05, the Service Centre network, 
like our other downstream businesses, was 
negatively affected by high input costs and 
industrial disputes. 

During the year, scheduled outages on the 
Acacia Ridge and CRM paint lines caused a 
slight drop in production, down 4% on last 
year to 155,000 tonnes. However, increased 
demand saw slitting production up 1% on 
2003/04, to 425,000 tonnes. 

In December 2004, we announced the 
development of a new, state-of-the-art 
COLORBOND® facility in western Sydney 
at a capital cost of $120 million. The project, 
positioned to benefit from the rapid growth 
of the surrounding region, is expected to be 
operational by the middle of the 2006/07 
financial year.

PAGE 28

AUSTRALIA
PORT KEMBLA STEELWORKS

PERFORMANCE.
STRENGTH

WITH RECORD EARNINGS AND 
NEAR RECORD PRODUCTION, 
PORT KEMBLA STEELWORKS 
CONSOLIDATED ITS REPUTATION. 

Port Kembla is among the world’s best 
Steelworks, and in 2004/05, it once again 
demonstrated steelmaking strength. 
International and domestic pricing for hot 
rolled coil, steel slab and plate was very 
strong. These high steel prices, combined 
with near record production levels led to 
record earnings with the Hot Rolled Products 
segment reporting EBIT of $1.338 billion.

This fine performance is a credit to all 
those who have worked hard to improve 
the Steelworks over many years.

Located 80 kilometres south of Sydney, 
Port Kembla Steelworks is a fully integrated 
operation with all three major production 
phases – ironmaking, steelmaking and shaping 
– taking place on site. Port Kembla uses the Basic 
Oxygen Steelmaking process to produce steel 
slab, hot rolled coil and plate. It employs around 
3,500 people, and has the advantages of a 
deepwater port and close proximity to coal mines. 

Port Kembla is a highly cost-efficient 
steelmaking facility by world standards, 
and our capital investment program is aimed 
at maintaining this edge.   

PAGE 29

Port Kembla Steelworks (from left): 
raw materials preparation; slabmaking; 
Matt Burke at work in our Plate Mill.

In 2004/05, Port Kembla maintained near-record 
raw steel production levels, with 5.123 million 
tonnes produced in 2004/05, compared with 
5.145 million tonnes the previous year. 

The Steelworks also set a record for hot rolled 
coil production, achieving 2.522 million tonnes, 
up from the record 2.501 million tonnes produced 
in 2003/04. This was due to improvements 
in all areas of mill operations, including the 
slab re-heat furnace throughput rate.

A marked improvement was achieved in 
finished plate production, with 374,000 tonnes 
produced, up from 349,000 tonnes last year, 
due to continuous improvements in plant 
reliability, and working extra production shifts 
to meet high domestic demand. Improvements 
to process stability also led to the best coke 
production levels since 2001, with 2.374 
million tonnes produced during the year.

Export despatches for the year totalled 
1.4 million tonnes, with Port Kembla 
Steelworks continuing to make a major 
contribution to Australia’s balance 
of payments. 

To ensure Port Kembla Steelworks’ excellence, 
we continue to invest in expansion and 
maintenance. Our $100 million hot strip mill 
expansion is on schedule for completion in 
the first quarter of 2007 financial year. This 
will increase capacity by 400,000 tonnes to 
2.8 million tonnes per year. Civil excavations 
are almost finished, and work is progressing 
well on the furnace structure. 

During the year, we successfully replaced 
the No. 3 Basic Oxygen Steelmaking vessel, 
on time and under budget, after 21 years of 
operation and 33.6 million tonnes produced.

The Blast Furnace No. 5 reline study is 
progressing, with a final decision on the scope 
of work expected in 2005/06. The last furnace 
reline was in 1991. At this stage, we do not 
propose to significantly increase capacity. 

In 2004/05, new iron ore supply contracts 
were entered into with four suppliers. These 
contracts provide for the Company's medium 
term iron ore needs.    

Our premium steel brands, XLERPLATE® and 
XLERCOIL® have shown strong sales growth 
since their launch in 2003/04.

3.9

1,338

2.8

2.6

2.1

564

471

97

02

03

04

05

02

03

04

05

REVENUE ($BILLION)

EBIT ($MILLION)

HOT ROLLED PRODUCTS

PAGE 30

NEW ZEALAND

UNIQUE.
PROUD

THIS BUSINESS TOOK FULL ADVANTAGE 
OF STRONG MARKET DEMAND, 
REWARDING THE EFFORTS OF THOSE WHO 
HAVE WORKED HARD TO IMPROVE IT.

New Zealand Steel is a unique steel business, 
and in 2004/05 it showed its true performance 
capabilities. Many people have worked hard 
to improve this operation, and their efforts 
have proved fruitful, with the business 
taking full advantage of high demand in 
the domestic construction market. Export 
prices also rose, overcoming the effects 
of a strong New Zealand dollar and higher 
maintenance costs.

Our Steelworks, located at Glenbrook, south 
of Auckland, is a unique, fully integrated 
operation covering the entire steel supply chain. 
It uses our iron-rich sands and locally sourced 
coal to produce around 600,000 tonnes of steel 
slab each year. Slabs are processed into hot and 
cold rolled products, which are then on-sold, or 
further processed into products such as hollow 
sections, galvanised steel, and ZINCALUME® 
steel and COLORSTEEL®. 

PAGE 31

The business operates an extensive customer 
service network, selling to domestic and 
international markets.

In 2004/05, New Zealand Steel, including 
our Pacific Islands business, achieved EBIT of 
$183 million, an increase of 195% over last year, 
showing the benefit of higher domestic and 
export prices. Strong prices for the steelmaking 
by-product vanadium slag also contributed.  

In 2004/05, New Zealand Steel achieved 
record domestic despatches of 315,000 tonnes, 
compared with 272,000 tonnes the 
previous year.

Slab production was 610,400 tonnes, slightly 
down on last year’s figure of 611,300 tonnes, 
due to scheduled maintenance work. Major 
scheduled shutdowns in the iron plant, steel 
plant and hot strip mill occurred during the 
second half-year.

The metallic coating line achieved an annual 
production record of 217,000 tonnes, up from 
the previous record of 197,000 tonnes set in 
2003/04, and despite a scheduled shutdown. An 
induction oven was successfully commissioned 
in February, and capacity is now 230,000 tonnes 
per annum. Paint line production was 52,000 
tonnes, consistent with the previous year. 
An oven upgrade, completed in February, has 
lifted capacity to 60,000 tonnes per year. 

In May, we reached agreement on a 
three-year Employment Contract. Procurement 
initiatives provided cost savings of around 
NZ$2.5 million, and will continue to deliver 
savings in 2005/06. During the year, we made 
improvements to management systems, and 
also replaced ageing finance, maintenance and 
supply systems at a cost of $NZ13.5 million. 
We expect these changes to further enhance 
productivity in 2005/06.

756

183

590

549

467

62

44

12

02

03

04

05

02

03

04

05

REVENUE ($MILLION)

EBIT ($MILLION)

NEW ZEALAND STEEL 
AND PACIFIC ISLANDS

Clockwise from left: Botany Downs Secondary School 
showcasing ZINCALUME® steel; New Zealand Steel 
employee Peter Duffey, Fitter/Turner – Rolling Mills; 
Iron sands mining operations.

PAGE 32

NORTH AMERICA

BUILD. 
TRANSFORM

North America is an exciting part of 
BlueScope Steel’s world. While recent strong 
steel prices have favoured our upstream 
businesses, we are working hard to enhance 
our downstream operations, positioning our 
Company to become this region’s leading 
steel building solutions business.

Our North America portfolio consists of four 
businesses: North Star BlueScope Steel 
operates a mini-mill at Delta, Ohio in which 
we hold a 50% share; Butler Buildings is the 
country’s leading designer and producer of 
pre-engineered steel building systems (PEBs); 
Vistawall manufactures aluminium and 
glass architectural products; Castrip LLC 
is a joint venture company commercialising 
new steelmaking technology. 

In addition, our International Markets 
business brings Bluescope Steel products 
from Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere 
to our customers in North America.  

In 2004/05, North Star BlueScope Steel 
delivered a record result, due to strong 
international steel prices and operational 
excellence. Our newly acquired Butler 
Buildings business is being successfully 
transformed and integrated into the 
BlueScope Steel family. Our Vistawall 
business is robust, and growing well without 
the capital constraints of previous ownership, 
while Castrip LLC is providing exciting 
glimpses of the future. 

NORTH STAR BLUESCOPE STEEL
As with our other steelmaking businesses, 
North Star BlueScope Steel enjoyed an 
excellent year in 2004/05. The business 
achieved a substantial increase in EBIT, 
contributing $194 million to BlueScope 
Steel’s results. Higher domestic prices for 
steel in the United States, combined with 
excellent operational performance, enabled 
North Star BlueScope Steel to achieve its 
highest ever EBIT result, despite rises in 
scrap feedstock costs.   

Our partner in this venture is North Star Steel, 
a subsidiary of Cargill Inc. The combined 
experience and efforts of the partners, 
together with state-of-the-art technology, 
has made this business an industry leader. In 
November 2004, North Star BlueScope Steel 
LLC made its final debt repayment, and is 
now debt-free. The business has since begun 
paying dividends to owners. In 2004/05, the 
business set a number of records. Production 
was 1.824 million metric tonnes, exceeding 
forecasts, and up from the previous record 
of 1.710 million metric tonnes in 2003/04. 
This was due to increased slab caster 
throughput, improvements to the Electric 
Arc Furnaces and rolling mill, and overall 
operational strength.

Steel industry customers again voted this 
business ‘number one flat rolled steel 
supplier in North America’ in the prestigious 
Jacobson survey. North Star BlueScope Steel 
beat 30 other steel mills in areas such as 
quality, service, on-time delivery and 
overall satisfaction.

WE ARE TRANSFORMING OUR 
NORTH AMERICAN BUSINESSES, 
EXTENDING OUR VALUE CHAIN 
AND CREATING THE REGION’S 
LEADING STEEL BUILDING 
SOLUTIONS OPERATION.

1,135

(28)

(20)

956

04*

05

04*

05

REVENUE ($MILLION)

EBIT ($MILLION)

COATED AND BUILDING PRODUCTS 
NORTH AMERICA
* normalised results

PAGE 33

(Left) The Applied Industrial Technologies Office in Cleveland, Ohio features a stunning Vistawall facade. 
(Right) The Liquid Plastic company selected a customised BUTLER® PEB. 

BUTLER BUILDINGS
Since acquiring Butler Manufacturing Company 
in April 2004, we have implemented a fast-
paced and broad ranging transformation 
program to realise the latent value of this 
iconic North American business. Butler Buildings 
is the industry’s leading brand, with the 
strongest distribution network. By combining 
the best of Butler with BlueScope Steel, 
we aim to create a distinctive steel-based 
building solutions business in North America. 
We are making good progress toward this goal. 

Butler Buildings supplies PEBs for many 
applications, including warehouses, 
manufacturing facilities, rural buildings, offices, 
retail, schools, aircraft hangars and stadiums. 
It is market leader in non-residential PEBs 
in the United States, Canada and Mexico, 
and is supported by a sales network of 
1,100 Butler Builders. 

During 2004/05, we undertook a program 
to strengthen Butler Buildings. This included 
closure of the high-cost Galesburg facility, 
numerous cost reduction initiatives, and 
management structure and process 
improvements.

We also introduced steel feedstock from 
North Star BlueScope Steel and linked steel 
supply from our Australasian operations 
to Butler Buildings, via our longstanding 
North American customers. Our review of 
non-essential assets continued with the 
divestment of the disused Alabama facility 
in May, for US$1.3 million, while the sale of 
the Galesburg facility is progressing.  

Butler Buildings improved its performance 
in 2004/05, despite inconsistent market 
demand, the previous state of the business, 
the scale and speed of our transformation 
program, and high and volatile prices for 
steel and other raw materials. Shipments 
were steady at 186,000 tons – the same 
as the previous year. 

Butler Buildings has excellent design and 
technical capabilities, strong, well-recognised 
brands in a high-value market, and is 
providing support for global downstream 
growth initiatives such as our China 
business. We are reinvigorating Butler’s 
licensee relationships, and believe this 
business holds great potential as a strong 
platform for growth in North America. 

VISTAWALL
2004/05 was a year of solid performance for 
Vistawall, which manufactures and markets 
extruded aluminium store-fronts, curtain walls, 
doors, windows and skylights. Aluminium 
despatches were up 12% (by weight) on the 
previous year and the business gained an 
estimated 2% market share. Profitability was 
strong, in line with expectations and despite 
rising aluminium feed costs.

Following our acquisition of Vistawall, an 
independent review confirmed our expectations 
of this business. It is strong in operational 
performance, sales capability, and product 
range, while service levels and growth 
potential are high.

We have invested to increase our sales and 
marketing capability, while our expanded 
range of service centres will boost our market 
presence in sales and engineering. During the 
year, we launched a number of new products, 
including Solar Eclipse sunshades, Reliance 
Wall, and Terra Swing terrace doors. We 
also approved a major expansion of our 
Tennessee plant to double our extrusion 
capacity – this will be commissioned on 
schedule in late 2005 calendar year.  

CASTRIP   
Castrip LLC is a joint venture company 
developing a revolutionary strip casting 
process that allows direct production of thin, 
hot rolled coil from molten steel, bypassing 
slab casting, hot rolling, and potentially 
cold rolling. This technology was pioneered 
at Port Kembla Steelworks. Our partners in 
Castrip LLC are the US Steel company, Nucor, 
and Japan’s IHI Heavy Industries. 

The world’s first commercial Castrip® facility 
operates at Nucor’s Crawfordsville, Indiana 
plant, allowing Castrip® material to be 
introduced to the market. In 2004/05, the 
Castrip® process moved closer to large-scale 
production with Nucor announcing its intention 
to build more Castrip® facilities. A number 
of steelmakers have expressed interest 
in acquiring a Castrip® licence, and 
negotiations are continuing.

PAGE 34

COMMUNITY

OUR 
HOMES

WE EXPRESSED COMMUNITY SUPPORT THROUGH 
A WIDE RANGE OF PROJECTS, INCLUDING OUR MAJOR 
TSUNAMI RELIEF EFFORT.

Our Bond states that ‘our communities are 
our homes.’ As well as succeeding as a 
business, we strive to succeed as a citizen 
of those communities in which we operate. 
Our community programs provide support for 
youth, the disadvantaged, the environment, 
the arts and cultural diversity. Each year 
we run hundreds of these programs, aimed 
at improving and enriching the lives of our 
fellow citizens. An example is our Australian 
Workplace Giving program, introduced during 
the year, which enables Australian employees 
to contribute financially to partner charities, 
supported by matched giving by the Company. 

In addition to community programs and 
projects, we undertake community work in 
direct response to emergencies and disasters. 
This work is often based on our understanding 
of steel building materials and design. The 
provision of relief housing is a typical example. 

TSUNAMI RELIEF
The worst natural disaster during 2004/05 
was the Asia Tsunami. Donations to the Red 
Cross Asia Quake and Tsunami Appeal from 
BlueScope Steel and our employees totalled 
almost $1.3 million. Our Company made an 
initial donation of $200,000 in late December, 
and then announced we would match employee 
donations dollar for dollar. When the Appeal 
closed on January 31, direct employee 
donations had reached $532,000.

Aside from the Appeal, employees and the 
Company have contributed to the tsunami 
relief effort in a number of ways. BlueScope 
Steel’s businesses in Asia have donated steel 
buildings and building materials, and individual 
employees in the region have donated food, 
clothing and other essential supplies, as well 
as giving their time to assist embassies and 
others in relief work.

Our Company has also worked with 
architects, designers and aid agencies, 
preparing designs for emergency 
aid buildings. BlueScope Water has 
manufactured and shipped over one hundred 
rainwater tanks from Australia to Banda 

Aceh, Indonesia. Many of the worst affected 
countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia 
and Thailand, are countries in which we 
have operations, but thankfully, none of our 
employees were injured. BlueScope Steel 
continues to support the rebuilding effort.

WORKING WITH RED CROSS
BlueScope Steel is involved with many community groups, including Red Cross. 
Over the last 12 months, we worked closely with Red Cross in a number of countries. 
The following letter acknowledges our involvement. 

Australian Red Cross offers sincere thanks to the staff and management of BlueScope 
Steel for your generous support over the last 12 months. Such support has helped to 
fund a range of vital domestic and international programs targeting vulnerable people, 
including those affected by the devastating Boxing Day Tsunamis.  

With the help of organisations like BlueScope Steel, Australian Red Cross raised 
$112 million towards our Asia Quake and Tsunami Appeal, of which $58 million has 
already been spent or committed. Such tremendous funding support enabled us to 
reach over one million people in affected areas with vital aid including food, medical 
assistance, safe water, shelter and clothing.  

Our relief efforts are now turning to rehabilitation and recovery. Australian Red Cross 
has so far identified 30 longer-term programs of assistance, such as the community 
housing project on Indonesia’s Nias Island. There, the Red Cross is helping to build 
254 houses, nine bridges, two schools, three clean water systems and one first aid 
centre. In the Maldives, a Red Cross tsunami waste and debris clearance project will 
benefit some 50,000 affected people across 70 islands.

In addition to its support of our Tsunami Appeal, the staff and management of 
BlueScope Steel have provided ongoing support through workplace giving. Dollars 
raised through this initiative have helped to fund a range of community programs in 
Australia, including our Good Start Breakfast Club, which serves more than 300,000 
healthy breakfasts annually to primary school kids in areas of greatest need around 
Australia. Australian Red Cross is proud to have been chosen as a participant in 
BlueScope Steel’s Workplace Giving program and we thank all staff members who 
have generously supported our cause.

PAGE 35

Support for our communities (clockwise from left): Australian Surf Lifesaving; Thai children 
in front of relief housing in Phuket; Tsunami fund raising concert in Yogjakarta, Indonesia; 
BlueScope Steel Youth Orchestra.

PAGE 36

HEALTH AND SAFETY

OUR 
PEOPLE

OUR FUNDAMENTAL BELIEF 
IS THAT ALL INJURIES CAN BE PREVENTED.

BlueScope Steel facilities in 
(clockwise from top): Sunshine, Victoria, 
New Zealand and Indonesia. 
For every employee at every site, 
safety comes first. 

PAGE 37

68

60

52.2

47.1

4.8

4.1

3.4

3.4

2.8

1.8

1.9

1.4

0.8

0.6

29.1

22.4

21.9

17

12.2

11.3

9.3

9.2

6.8

4.4

29

16

14

8

94

95

96

97

98

99

00

01

02

03

2004

2005

94

95

96

97

98

99

00

01

02

03

2004

2005

LOST TIME INJURY FREQUENCY RATE
Includes contractors from 1996

Includes Butler performance data from July 2003
Excludes Butler performance

MEDICALLY TREATED INJURY FREQUENCY RATE
Includes contractors from 2004

Includes Butler performance data from July 2003
Excludes Butler performance

BlueScope Steel has a goal of Zero Harm. This goal is based on our 
fundamental belief that all injuries can be prevented, and it drives continuous 
improvement in health and safety performance at every level of the Company. 

BlueScope Steel employees and contractors continue to work safer. Less 
people are being injured than ever before, and our Company is being cited 
as best practice in industrial safety. However, this does not diminish our drive 
for yet more improvements.

In 2004/05, we improved our record low injury 
performance, recording a Lost Time Injury 
Frequency Rate (LTIFR) of less than one lost time 
injury per million hours worked. This compares 
exceptionally well to an international industry 
average of just under 10. In the majority of 
Company facilities, the Medical Treatment 
Injury Frequency Rate (MTIFR) also continues to 
decrease to record-best levels. The graphs on this 
page show the impact of incorporating the Butler 
performance data from July 2003. This business 
has now embraced our safety journey. 

Tragically, we experienced a fatality at our 
New Zealand Steel operations just after the close 
of the 2004/05 financial year. In the past eight years, 
BlueScope Steel has had five fatalities. This equates 
to a fatality every 55 million hours worked, which 
is a marked improvement on historical performance 
and less than half the rate of the international iron 
and steel industry. But the only acceptable number 
is zero, and we are doing everything possible 
to achieve this.

In 2004/05, 78% of our people were involved in 
conducting monthly safety audits, and the majority 
of teams have every person involved in audits on a 
monthly basis. Our newly acquired North American 
businesses have also made good progress. Prior to 
acquisition, audit participation rates were very low in 
these businesses, but in one year, they have achieved 
safety auditing involvement levels of over 60%. Another 
proactive strategy sees our people involved in more 
‘near miss’ reporting than ever before. In the past year, 
over 23,390 near misses were reported.

BlueScope Steel has a comprehensive Occupational 
Health and Safety Management System in place, which 
is mandatory in all our operations. The Management 
System focuses on three basic aspects: safe and 
healthy people, safe systems, and a safe and tidy plant. 
Under the System, 23 Safety Management Standards 
have been established. Each business is required 
to demonstrate compliance with these Standards. 
We are pleased to report that during the year, the 
self-assessment process showed a continuous 
improvement in meeting these Standards. 

COMMUNITY, SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT REPORT
This Report will be available December 2005. 
Shareholders wishing to register and receive a copy 
of the Report can do so by visiting our website 
www.bluescopesteel.com or by contacting 
BlueScope Steel Direct in Australia on 1800 800 789. 

 
 
 
 
PAGE 38

BOARD 
OF DIRECTORS

GRAHAM KRAEHE, AO 
Chairman (Independent), Age 62, BEc
Director since: May 2002

Extensive background in manufacturing and 
was Managing Director and Chief Executive 
Officer of Southcorp Limited from 1994 to 
February 2001. As at the date of this report, 
he is the Chairman of the National Australia 
Bank, appointed on August 1997. He has 
announced his retirement from the bank 
effective September 2005. A Board member 
of Djerriwarrh Investments Limited since 
July 2002, the Innovation Economy Advisory 
Board for Victoria since December 2002 and 
a member of the Chairman’s Panel of the 
Business Council of Australia. Mr Kraehe was 
a non-executive director of News Corporation 
Limited from January 2001 until April 2004 
and Brambles Industries Limited from 
December 2000 until March 2004.

He brings skills and experience in manufacturing 
management and in companies with 
substantial and geographically diverse 
industrial operations. Mr Kraehe’s experience 
with a wide range of organisations is relevant 
for his role as Chairman of the Board.

RON MCNEILLY 
Deputy Chairman (Independent), 
Age 62, BCom, MBA, FCPA
Director since: May 2002

Deputy Chairman of the Board with over 30 years’ 
experience in the steel industry. He joined BHP 
in 1962, and until December 2001 held various 
positions with the BHP (now BHP Billiton) Group, 
including Executive Director and President BHP 
Minerals, Chief Operating Officer, Executive 
General Manager and was Chief Executive 
Officer BHP Steel until 1997. The latter role 
developed his knowledge of many of the 
businesses comprising BlueScope Steel today. 

He is Chairman of Melbourne Business School 
Limited, Chairman of Worley Parsons Limited 
and a director since October 2002, and a director 
of Alumina Ltd since December 2002. Vice 
President of the Australia Japan Business 
Cooperation Committee and a member of the 
Council on Australia Latin America Relations. 
A director of Ausmelt Limited from September 
2002 until November 2004.

PAGE 39

TAN YAM PIN 
Non-Executive Director (Independent), 
Age 64, BEc (Hons), MBA, CA
Director since: May 2003.

KEVIN MCCANN, AM 
Non-Executive Director (Independent), 
Age 64, BA LLB (Hons), LLM
Director since: May 2002

A chartered accountant by profession, 
formerly Managing Director of Fraser and 
Neave Group, one of South-East Asia’s 
leading public companies, and Chief Executive 
Officer of its subsidiary company, Asia Pacific
Breweries Limited. A Member of the Public 
Service Commission of Singapore since 1990. 
Chairman of PowerSereya Limited (Singapore) 
and is also a member of the Supervisory 
Board of The East Asiatic Company Limited 
A/S (Denmark), Keppel Land Limited 
(Singapore) Singapore Post Limited, Great 
Eastern Holdings Limited, CISCO Security Pte. 
Ltd, and International Enterprise Singapore. 
He resigned as director of FHTK Holdings Ltd 
(Singapore) in 2004.

Mr Tan resides in Singapore. He brings 
extensive knowledge of Asian markets, an 
area of strategic importance to BlueScope 
Steel. His financial and leadership skills 
complement the skills on the Board.

KIRBY ADAMS 
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, 
Age 49, BSc (Industrial Eng), MBA
Director since: May 2002.

Appointed Managing Director and 
Chief Executive Officer of BlueScope Steel 
Limited in July 2002. Joined the BHP group 
in 1995 and held various positions including 
President BHP Services, Group General 
Manager and Chief Executive Officer BHP 
Service Companies, Corporate General 
Manager Planning and Development and 
President BHP Steel since February 2000. 

Vice-Chairman of the International Iron 
and Steel Institute since October 2004 
and is a member of the Business Council 
of Australia.

A non-Partner Chairman of Partners until 
the end of 2004 of Allens Arthur Robinson, 
a national law firm. A partner of the firm from 
1970 until June 2004, specialising in mergers 
and acquisitions, mineral and resources law 
and capital markets transactions.

Currently Chairman of Healthscope Limited 
since March 1994, Origin Energy Limited since 
February 2000, Triako Resources Limited since 
April 1999, and the Sydney Harbour Federation 
Trust. Lead independent director of Macquarie 
Bank Limited and appointed as director in 
December 1996, member of the Defence 
Procurement Advisory Board and has served on 
the Boards of Pioneer International Limited, Ampol 
Limited and the State Rail Authority of New 
South Wales. A member of the Takeovers Panel 
and a consultant to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

Brings extensive legal expertise, commercial 
experience as a director of a number of major 
listed companies and experience in corporate 
governance to the Board.

DIANE GRADY 
Non-Executive Director (Independent), Age 57, 
BA (Hons), MA (Chinese Studies), MBA
Director since: May 2002.

A full time non-executive director of various 
companies since 1994. Currently a director 
of Woolworths Limited since July 1996 and of 
Wattyl Limited since December 1994. She is 
Governor of Ascham School. Formerly, a Trustee 
of the Sydney Opera House, a director of the 
Australian Institute of Management (New South 
Wales). She was a director of Lend Lease 
Corporation from June 1994 until July 2002.

As a former partner with McKinsey & Co, 
Ms Grady spent 15 years consulting to clients 
in a broad range of industries on strategic 
and organisational issues. In Australia, led 
the firm’s Marketing, Retailing and Consumer 
Goods practice and was a global leader of 
McKinsey’s Change Management Centre.

PAUL RIZZO 
Non-Executive Director (Independent), 
Age 60, BCom, MBA
Director since: May 2002.

A Director of National Australia Bank 
Limited since September 2004. A member 
of the Advisory Board of Mallesons Stephen 
Jaques, and Chairman of Foundation for 
Very Special Kids. Formerly Chief Executive 
Officer and Dean, director and Professorial 
Fellow of the Melbourne Business School. 
Held positions as Group Managing 
Director – Finance and Administration of 
Telstra Corporation Limited, Chief General 
Manager – Retail Banking Commonwealth 
Bank of Australia, Chief Executive Officer 
of State Bank of Victoria and a range of 
senior executive positions at Australia and 
New Zealand Banking Group Limited. His 
extensive financial experience is valuable 
to the Board and in his role as Chairman 
of the Audit and Risk Committee.

PAGE 40

DIRECTORS' 
REPORT

(cid:129)  Australia: a new painting facility (capacity: 120,000 
tonnes per annum) in western Sydney. The facility 
will cost approximately $120 million and is 
expected to commence operation in early calendar 
year 2007; and

(cid:129)  Australia: an expansion of the Hot Strip Mill 

(capacity increase: 2.4 to 2.8 million tonnes per 
annum) at the Port Kembla Steelworks. The expansion 
will cost approximately $100 million and is expected 
to commence operation in the second half of 
calendar year 2006. 

b)  The Company expanded its Australian 

manufacturing, sales and distribution capabilities 
through a number of acquisitions in the BlueScope 
Lysaght and BlueScope Water businesses.  

c)  In March 2005, the Company decided to withdraw 
from its unprofitable export tinplate business, 
commencing from April 2005, resulting in the 
planned closure of some operating lines within 
two years.

d)  On 1 July 2004, the Company completed a debut 
debt raising in the US private placement market 
totalling US$300 million with terms of 7 years 
(US$100 million) and 10 years (US$200 million).

MATTERS SUBSEQUENT TO THE END 
OF THE FINANCIAL YEAR

No matters or circumstances have arisen since 
30 June 2005 that have significantly affected, or 
may significantly affect, the BlueScope Steel Group 
operations, results or state of affairs in future. 

DIVIDENDS

BlueScope Steel paid a fully franked dividend for 
the year ended 30 June 2004 of 18 cents per share 
and a special dividend of 10 cents per share in 
October 2004, and a fully franked interim dividend 
of 18 cents per share in April 2005 to its shareholders. 

On 23 August 2005, it was announced that 
Directors determined to pay a final fully franked 
dividend of 24 cents per share, which is to be paid 
on 24 October 2005 (record date 5 October 2005) 
to shareholders. The Directors have also announced 
a fully franked special dividend of 20 cents payable 
on 24 October 2005.

DIRECTORS’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR 
ENDED 30 JUNE 2005

The directors of BlueScope Steel Limited 
(“BlueScope Steel”) present their report on the 
consolidated entity (“BlueScope Steel Group”) 
consisting of BlueScope Steel Limited and its 
controlled entities for the financial year ended 
30 June 2005.

PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES 

During the year the principal continuing activities 
of the BlueScope Steel Group, based principally in 
Australia, New Zealand, North America, China and 
elsewhere in Asia, were:

a)  Manufacture and distribution of flat steel products;

b)  Manufacture and distribution of metallic coated 

and painted steel products; 

c)  Manufacture and distribution of steel building 

products; and

d)  Design and manufacture of pre-engineered steel 

buildings and building solutions.

SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN STATE 
OF AFFAIRS

The following significant events occurred during 
the year:

a)  The Company is progressing a range of growth 

initiatives aimed at expanding the manufacture and 
distribution of metallic coating and painted steel 
products. The following projects were approved:

  Approved in 2003/2004

(cid:129)  Thailand: installing a second metallic coating line 
(capacity: 200,000 tonnes per annum) at the 
Map Ta Phut plant. The facility will cost approximately 
$80 million and is scheduled for completion in 
August 2005;

(cid:129)  Vietnam: the construction of a new metallic coating 
(capacity: 125,000 tonnes per annum) and painting 
(capacity: 50,000 tonnes per annum) facility. The 
facility will cost approximately $160 million and is 
expected to commence operation in early calendar 
year 2006; and

(cid:129)  China: a new metallic coating (capacity: 250,000 

tonnes per annum) and painting (capacity: 150,000 
tonnes per annum) facility. The facility will cost 
approximately $280 million and is expected to 
commence operation in mid calendar year 2006. 

  Approved in 2004/2005

(cid:129)  China: the Group’s first Butler PEB/Lysaght facility. 
The facility will cost approximately $45 million and 
is expected to commence operation mid calendar 
year 2006;

(cid:129)  India: three new facilities delivering a range of 

Lysaght and Butler products. The facilities will cost 
approximately $100 million and will progressively 
commence operations during 2006 and 2007;

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DIRECTORS' REPORT

PAGE 41

REVIEW AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The BlueScope Steel Group comprises five business reporting segments: Hot Rolled Products, New Zealand and Pacific Steel Products, Coated and Building Products 
Australia, Coated and Building Products Asia, and Coated and Building Products North America. A description of the operations comprising these segments is provided 
in Note 3 to the Annual Financial Report.

Segment Revenues 
2005
$M

Segment Revenues 
2004
$M

Segment Results 
2005
$M

Segment Results 
2004
$M

Sales revenue

Hot Rolled Products

New Zealand and Pacific Steel Products

Coated and Building Products Australia

Coated and Building Products Asia

Coated and Building Products North America

Corporate and Group

Intersegment eliminations

Other revenue

Operating revenue/EBIT

Net unallocated expenses

Profit from ordinary activities before income tax

Income tax expense

Profit from ordinary activities after income tax expense

Net profit attributable to outside equity interest

Net profit attributable to members of BlueScope Steel 

Earning per share (cents)

3,939.5

756.4

3,190.3

1,051.3

1,134.4

359.9

(2,494.1)

43.9

7,981.6

2,838.6

590.2

2,883.5

698.6

191.5

372.9

(1,837.9)

32.2

5,769.6

1,338.5

182.8

(115.7)

81.8

(19.7)

(70.2)

(9.1)

1,388.4

(34.3)

1,354.1

(347.0)

1,007.1

(0.1)

1,007.0

137.4

563.8

62.1

192.9

104.0

(8.8)

(64.0)

(32.1)

817.9

(14.5)

803.4

(201.6)

601.8

(17.7)

584.1

77.8

Building on the strong performance of previous years, 
the BlueScope Steel Group has achieved a record 
financial result, delivering a net profit of $1,007.0 
million and earnings per share of 137.4 cents.
The Company’s revenue increased $2,212.0 million to 
$7,981.6 million, primarily achieved through acquisitions, 
improved prices, and a favourable shift in the mix of 
despatches from export to domestic. These were partly 
offset by a reduction in the value of USD-denominated 
sales, due to the strengthening of the Australian dollar. 
Net profit after tax increased $422.9 million to a 
record $1,007.0 million. This improvement was due 
primarily to higher international and domestic steel 
prices, improved margins from North Star BlueScope 
Steel, and a favourable shift in mix of despatches 
from export to domestic. These were partly offset 
by higher raw material and operating costs, higher 
planned repairs and maintenance to improve operating 
stability, higher business development costs, and the 
net impact of a higher AUD/USD exchange rate on 
USD-denominated revenues and costs. 

Hot Rolled Products
The earnings contribution from the Hot Rolled Products 
segment increased as a result of stronger hot rolled 
coil and slab pricing (to export, domestic and 
inter-segment customers), and a substantial increase 

in margins from North Star BlueScope Steel. These 
were partly offset by higher scrap, coking coal, iron 
ore, alloys and freight costs, together with an increase 
in repairs and maintenance expenditure to ensure 
reliability of operations, which underpins increased 
production capacity together with the optimisation 
of asset lives.

New Zealand and Pacific Steel Products

The earnings contribution from the New Zealand and 
Pacific Steel Products segment increased as a result of 
domestic and export price increases, and higher prices 
for vanadium slag (a steel making by-product) and 
continuing strong New Zealand domestic sales volumes.  

Coated and Building Products Australia

The earnings contribution from the Coated and 
Building Products Australia segment was significantly 
affected by higher hot rolled coil and slab feed costs 
(from Hot Rolled Products), which compressed margins 
despite price increases in both domestic and export 
markets. Earnings were also affected by industrial 
action at the Western Port facility, an increase in 
repairs and maintenance and restructuring costs 
associated with the withdrawal from export tinplate. 
These were partly offset by a favourable shift in mix 
of despatches from export to domestic. 

Coated and Building Products Asia
The earnings contribution from the Coated and Building 
Products Asia segment was lower primarily due to an 
increase in business development and pre-production 
costs associated with developments in Vietnam, 
Thailand, India and China, together with operating cost 
increases. These were partly offset by sales volume 
increases as a result of market growth initiatives 
and the integration of BlueScope Butler China. The 
segment maintained gross margins despite significant 
increases in steel feed and coating metal costs.

Coated and Building Products North America   
Butler Manufacturing Company, a leading manufacturer 
of pre-engineered buildings, was acquired in April 
2004 bringing a new suite of building and construction 
products to the Company. This new segment delivered 
negative earnings for the year. However, when 
compared with comparative period earnings normalised 
for discontinued operations and acquisition related 
costs, earnings improved $8 million. This improvement 
was achieved primarily through higher margins but was 
negatively affected by costs associated with the early 
closure of the Galesburg, Illinois plant and start-up 
costs of a replacement plant at Jackson, Tennessee.

PAGE 42

LIKELY DEVELOPMENTS 
AND EXPECTED RESULTS 

Demand for BlueScope Steel’s products is expected 
to remain firm during the 2005/06 financial year. 

Spot prices for commodity steel products in global 
markets have fallen in recent months and currently 
appear to have stabilised or increased in certain 
regions. Increases in iron ore and coal prices will raise 
BlueScope Steel’s costs by approximately $380 million 
(pre-tax) compared to the 2004/05 financial year. 
The Company is unlikely to be able to fully recover 
these cost imposts and therefore upstream margins 
in the Hot Rolled Product segment will likely be 
lower. However, we expect margins in our midstream 
coating/painting and downstream roll forming and 
pre engineering building businesses will improve.

During the 2005/06 financial year, the Company will 
continue to work on improving those factors within 
its control.

BOARD COMPOSITION

Particulars of the skills, experience, expertise and 
special responsibilities of the Directors are set out 
on pages 38–39 under Information on Directors and 
form part of this report.

COMPANY SECRETARIES

Michael Barron Chief Legal Officer and Company 
Secretary, BEc, LLB, ACIS
Michael Barron is responsible for the legal affairs of 
BlueScope Steel and for Company secretarial matters. 
Prior to joining BlueScope Steel, Mr Barron held the 
position of group general counsel of Orica Limited 
where he was employed for 16 years, holding a variety 
of legal positions in Australia and overseas. 

Lisa Nicholson, B.Sc., LLB, ACIS 
Lisa Nicholson is responsible for Company secretarial 
matters for BlueScope Steel and its subsidiaries. 
Ms Nicholson has company secretarial and legal 
experience gained from working with Coles Myer Ltd, 
Lend Lease Employer Systems Ltd and DaimlerChrysler 
Australia/Pacific Pty Ltd.

The following were Directors for the full financial 
year: Graham John Kraehe AO (Chairman), Ronald 
John McNeilly (Deputy Chairman), Kirby Clarke Adams 
(Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer), 
Diane Jennifer Grady, Harry Kevin (Kevin) McCann 
AM, Paul John Rizzo and Tan Yam Pin. John Crabb 
resigned effective 28 July 2004.

Laurence Mandie, B.Sc. (Hons), LLB (Hons)
Laurence Mandie is a corporate counsel with 
BlueScope Steel and is responsible for the legal 
affairs of the Australian Building and Logistics 
Solutions businesses, and corporate functions such 
as finance and IT. Mr Mandie has extensive legal 
experience gained from working in the Mergers and 

Acquisitions group of Freehills, a national law firm 
and on secondment, as Acting General Counsel and 
Company Secretary of Pasminco Limited.

PARTICULARS OF DIRECTORS’ 
INTERESTS IN SHARES AND OPTIONS 
OF BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED

Director

Ordinary shares

Share rights

G J Kraehe

K C Adams *

D J Grady

H K McCann

R J McNeilly

P Rizzo

Y P Tan

109,676

1,825,881

36,358

21,913

514,587

24,702

11,980

0

 945,000

0

0

0

0

0

* Mr Adams’ current holding of BlueScope Steel Limited shares 
includes 685,000 arising from the BlueScope Steel long term 
incentive plan. The remaining shares have been acquired with his 
own funds.

MEETINGS OF DIRECTORS

The attendance of the current Directors at Board and Board Committee meetings from 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2005 is as follows:

BOARD MEETINGS

COMMITTEE MEETINGS

Audit and Risk

Remuneration
and Organisation 
Committee

Health, Safety 
& Environment

Nomination

G J Kraehe

K C Adams

D J Grady

H K McCann

R J McNeilly

P Rizzo

Y P Tan

A

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

B

13

13

13

13

13

13

12

A

–

–

–

5

5

5

–

B

*5

*4

–

5

5

5

–

A

5

–

5

–

5

–

5

B

5

*3

5

–

5

–

5

A

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

B

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

A

5

–

5

5

5

5

5

B

5

*5

5

5

5

5

5

All Directors have held office for the entire 2004/05 financial year. Mr Crabb resigned as a Director of BlueScope Steel on 28 July 2004 and attended no meetings during the 2004/05 financial year.
A = number of meetings held during the period 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2005 during the time the Director was a member of the Board or the Committee as the case may be.
B = number of meetings attended by the Director from 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2005 while the Director was a member of the Board or the Committee as the case may be.
* = not a member of the relevant Committee. However, Directors who are not members of the relevant Committee often attend meetings. 
There were a number of unscheduled meetings held during the year. They are as follows:
Board meetings: 2
Roc meetings: 1

The Non-Executive Directors met twice during the 2004/05 financial year without the presence of management.

 
  
BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DIRECTORS' REPORT

PAGE 43

REMUNERATION REPORT

1. POLICY AND STRUCTURE 

1.1 Board Policy Setting

The Board oversees the BlueScope Steel Human 
Resources Strategy, both directly and through the 
Remuneration and Organisation Committee of the 
Board.  The purpose of the Committee as set out 
in its charter is “…to assist the Board to ensure 
that the Company:

(cid:129) has a human resources strategy aligned to the 

overall business strategy, which supports “Our Bond”;

(cid:129) has coherent remuneration policies that are 

observed and that enable it to attract and retain 
executives and Directors who will create value 
for shareholders;

(cid:129) fairly and responsibly rewards executives having 
regard to the performance of the Company, the 
creation of value for shareholders, the performance 
of the executive and the external remuneration 
environment; and

(cid:129) plans and implements the development and 

succession of executive management.”

As part of its charter the Committee considers 
remuneration strategy, policies and practices 
applicable to Non-Executive Directors, the 
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, 
senior managers and employees generally.

Input to the Committee’s operations is sought 
from the Managing Director and Chief Executive 
Officer and the Executive Vice President People 
and Performance who both attend Committee 
meetings, as appropriate. In addition, advice is 
received from independent expert advisers in a 
number of areas including:

(cid:129) Remuneration benchmarking

(cid:129) Short term incentives

(cid:129) Long term incentives

(cid:129) Contract terms

The Board recognises that BlueScope Steel 
operates in a highly competitive global environment 
and that the performance of the Company depends 
on the quality of its people.

The Company’s approach to remuneration for 
Non-Executive Directors and employees, with 
particular reference to salaried employees and 
senior managers is set out below.

1.2 Non-Executive Directors’ Remuneration

Fees and payments to Non-Executive Directors 
reflect the demands which are made on, and the 
responsibilities of, the Directors. Non-Executive 
Directors’ fees and payments are reviewed 
annually. The Board has sought the advice of an 
expert external remuneration consultant to ensure 
that fees and payments to Non-Executive Directors, 
the Chairman of the Board and the Chairman of 
Committees of the Board reflect their duties and are 
in line with the market. The Chairman is not present 
at any discussions relating to the determination of 
his own remuneration.  

Non-Executive Directors do not receive share rights 
or other performance based rewards. Non-Executive 
Directors are expected to accumulate over time a 
shareholding in the Company at least equivalent in 
value to their annual remuneration. Non-Executive 
Directors are required to salary sacrifice a minimum 
of 10% of their remuneration each year and be 
provided with BlueScope Steel shares (instead of 
cash fees), which are acquired on-market in the 
approved policy windows. Shareholders approved 
this arrangement at the Annual General Meeting 
in November 2003, and Non-Executive Directors 
commenced participation in this arrangement 
in January 2004.

The current annual base fees for Non-Executive 
Directors are as follows:

(cid:129) Chairman – $420,000

(cid:129) Deputy Chairman – $220,000

(cid:129) Directors – $140,000

The remuneration of the Chairman and Deputy 
Chairman is inclusive of Board Committee fees. 
Other Non-Executive Directors who chair a Board 
Committee receive additional yearly fees and 
members of the Audit and Risk Committee also 
receive an additional yearly fee on the basis of 
advice from the remuneration consultant. The 
current annual Committee Chair fees are as follows:

(cid:129) Remuneration and Organisation Committee – $20,000

(cid:129) Audit and Risk Committee – $30,000

(cid:129) Health, Safety, Environment and Community 

Committee – $15,000 (Currently chaired by the Deputy 
Chairman of the Board so no fee is currently paid).

Members of the Audit and Risk Committee (other 
than Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Board and 
the Chairman of the Committee) receive a fee of 
$15,000 per annum.

Mr Tan (a resident of Singapore) receives a travel 
and representation allowance recognising his 
involvement in representing the Board in activities 
with BlueScope Steel’s Asian business and the 
significant travel requirement imposed in respect 
of his attendance at meetings. This allowance is 
currently $20,000 per annum.

Non-Executive Directors’ fees are determined 
within an aggregate Directors’ fee pool limit, which 
is approved by shareholders. The maximum fee 
pool limit is $1,750,000 per annum (inclusive of 
superannuation) as approved by shareholders at the 
Annual General Meeting in 2003. As it has been 3 
years since the fee limit was established, the Board 
believes it appropriate to seek shareholder approval 
at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting, to raise 
the maximum remuneration payable to $2,250,000 
per annum (inclusive of superannuation). Approval 
will allow BlueScope Steel the flexibility to appoint 
another Director without exceeding the limit.

Compulsory superannuation contributions on behalf 
of each Director are paid in addition to the fees 
capped at $11,585. Non-Executive Directors do 
not receive any other retirement benefits.

Non-Executive Director Fees and payments 
will be next reviewed by an independent expert 
in January 2006.

1.3 Salaried Employees
1.3.1. Principles

BlueScope Steel has approximately 7,600 salaried 
employees. Other employees are covered by 
Collective Agreements or statutory instruments in 
the countries in which BlueScope Steel operates.

BlueScope Steel’s remuneration and reward 
practices aim to attract, motivate and retain 
talent of the highest calibre and support 
“Our Bond” by creating distinguishable differences 
in remuneration, consistent with performance.

The Company’s salaried remuneration framework 
is designed to:

(cid:129) make a clear link between rewarding employees 
and the creation of value for the shareholders 
and the business.

(cid:129) Recognise and reward individual performance 

and accountability for key job goals.

(cid:129) Provide distinguishable remuneration differences 

between levels.

(cid:129) Maintain a competitive remuneration level relative 
to the markets in which the Company operates.

The framework is built on an appropriate mix 
of base salary/pay (including work and expense 
related allowances), variable pay/short term 
incentives and long term equity participation 
opportunities. 

1.3.2 Base Salary/Pay

Base salary/pay is determined by reference 
to the scope and nature of an individual’s role, 
performance, experience, work requirements 
and market data.

Market data is obtained from external sources 
to establish appropriate guidelines for positions, 
with the goal to pay slightly above median.

PAGE 44

REMUNERATION REPORT CONTINUED

1. POLICY AND STRUCTURE CONTINUED

1.3 Salaried Employees continued
1.3.3 Variable Pay and Short Term Incentives

Most employees have access to a variable/at 
risk component of remuneration in the form of 
a performance related pay, or other variable pay 
schemes in which reward is at risk. All senior 
managers and many salaried employees participate 
in a formal short term incentive plan.  

The Short Term Incentive Plan (STI) is an annual 
“at risk” cash bonus scheme which is structured 
to deliver total compensation in the upper 
quartile for the respective market group when 
stretch performance is attained. STI awards are 
not an entitlement but rather the reward for 
overall company results and the individual or team 
contribution to performance. The scheme is applied 
at the discretion of the Board which has established 
rules and protocols to ensure that STI payments 
are aligned with organisation and individual 
performance outcomes. Target Short Term Incentive 
levels are set having regard to appropriate levels 
in the market and range from 10% of base salary 
through to 100% at CEO level. For outstanding 
results, participants may receive up to 150% of 
their target bonus amount.

Goals are established for each participant under the 
following categories which are drawn from the “Our 
Bond” charter. Each year objectives are selected to 
focus on key areas which underpin the achievement 
of outstanding performance including:

(cid:129) Shareholder Value Delivery – financial performance 
measures are used including Net Profit After Tax, 
Cash Flow, and Earnings Before Interest and Tax. 
Company wide financial performance goals are 
predetermined by the Board with the goals for the 
combined individual businesses required to exceed 
the overall goal. A minimum of 30% of STI Plans 
at senior manager level (with 60% at CEO level), 
is based on BlueScope Steel wide financials. 
For other participants, 20% of the Plan is based 
on BlueScope Steel corporate financials.

(cid:129) Zero Harm – safety and environmental performance 

measures, including Lost Time Injury Frequency 
Rates, Medical Treatment Injury Frequency Rates 
and environmental measures.

(cid:129) Business Excellence – performance measures 

for the financial year ended 30 June 2005 were 
focused on delivery performance, days of inventory 
and quality measures. 

(cid:129) Strategy – implementation of specific longer term 

strategic initiatives.

STI Plans are developed using a balanced 
approach to Financial/Shareholder value and Key 
Performance Indicator (KPI) metrics. At the senior 
executive level, 60% of the STI award is based on 
Financial/Shareholder value measures with 40% 
based on KPI metrics. For other participants, 50% 
of the STI award is based on Financial/Shareholder 
value measures and 50% is based on KPI metrics.  

Predetermined performance conditions including 
threshold, target and stretch hurdles are set for 
each plan and are assessed against these conditions 
using quantified and verifiable measures or an 
assessment of value contribution. Target levels 
are set having regard to the desired result for 
each goal. The applicable threshold and stretch 
ranges are set taking into account the degree of 
stretch inherent in the target. The threshold is the 
minimum performance level for which a payment 
will be made. The stretch is the maximum level.  
Consequently, if threshold is not reached, no 
payment is made in respect of that goal.  

1.3.4 Equity Based Opportunities

The Board gives consideration each year to the 
creation of opportunities for employees to participate 
as equity owners in the Company based on 
Company performance and other relevant factors. 
Shareholder approval is sought for any shares or 
share rights to be granted to the Managing Director 
and Chief Executive Officer.

a) Employee Share Plans

In August 2004, all employees were invited to 
participate in a scheme which provided for a grant 
of 150 ordinary BlueScope Steel shares (or a reward 
of equal value in countries where the issue of shares 
was not practicable). The aim of the Plan was to 
assist employees to build a stake in the Company 
by providing each eligible employee with a parcel of 
shares, at no cost to the employee. Employees who 
become shareholders have the potential to benefit 
from dividends paid on the shares, growth in the 
market value of their shares and any bonus shares 
or rights issues the Board of Directors may approve 
from time to time. 

The form of the share offer depended on local 
regulations and tax laws. In Australia, eligible 
employees were offered shares with a restriction 
on trading of these shares for 3 years. Over 99% 
of employees worldwide who were offered shares 
participated in the Plan.

The allocation of shares to employees under 
such schemes and the form of the offer is at the 
discretion of the Board and is considered on a year 
by year basis.

b) Long Term Incentive Plan – Approach

Consideration is also given on an annual basis 
to the award of share rights to senior managers 
under the Long Term Incentive Plan. The Long 
Term Incentive Plan is designed to reward senior 
managers for long term value creation. It is part 
of the Company’s overall recognition and retention 
strategy having regard to the long term incentives 

awarded to senior managers in the markets in 
which the Company operates.

The decision to make an award of share rights is 
made annually by the Board. Individual participation 
is determined based on the:

(cid:129) Strategic significance of the role and outcomes 

achieved.

(cid:129) Impact on strategic outcomes in terms of special 

achievements or requirements.

(cid:129) Future potential and succession planning requirements.

(cid:129) Performance and personal effectiveness in 

achieving outstanding results.

Details of the awards under the Plan since the 
demerger are set out below.  In summary, the main 
features of the Plan is as follows:

(cid:129) The awards are generally made in the form of share 
rights (with the exception of part of the July 2002 
award as set out below). Share rights are a right 
to acquire an ordinary share in BlueScope Steel at 
a later date subject to the satisfaction of certain 
performance criteria.

(cid:129) The vesting of share rights under the Plan requires 
a sustained performance over a number of years 
(usually 3) with a hurdle based on Total Shareholder 
Return (TSR) relative to the TSR of the companies 
in the S&P/ASX 100 index at the award grant date. 
The hurdles have been set to underpin the creation 
of superior Total Shareholder Return in the context 
of the top 100 Australian Companies.

(cid:129) The share rights available for exercise are 

contingent on BlueScope Steel’s ranking – TSR 
percentile with either a stepped vesting (2002 
awards) or a sliding scale (2003 and 2004 awards) 
with the minimum ranking for vesting being the 
51st percentile. With sliding scale vesting the 
total number of share rights that vest for a senior 
manager increase proportionally as BlueScope 
Steel’s TSR percentile ranking increases. The sliding 
scale introduced in 2003 was based on advice from 
an external remuneration consultant and was part 
of a review which balanced short and long term 
risk in the short and long term incentive schemes.

(cid:129) Given the potential volatility of the Company’s 
earnings and the cyclical nature of the markets 
in which the Company operates, provision 
is generally made for limited retesting on a 
predetermined basis (however, this does not 
apply to the September 2002 award).

(cid:129) Any share rights which do not vest, lapse on 

resignation or termination for cause or at the expiry 
of the relevant performance period, which ever 
comes first.

(cid:129) The Board has discretion to vest share rights in 
the event of a change in control. The Board has 
determined that any outstanding share rights can 
vest before the end of the performance period if a 
“change in control” occurs. Vesting at this time will 
depend upon early testing of the relevant performance 
hurdles at that time. A “change of control” is 
generally an entity acquiring unconditionally more 
than 50% of the issued shares of the Company.

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DIRECTORS' REPORT

PAGE 45

(cid:129) External valuation advice from 

Vesting Requirements

PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities Limited has 
been used to determine the value of the Executive 
Share Rights at grant date for each award. The 
valuation has been made using the Binomial Option 
Pricing Model using standard option pricing inputs 
such as the underlying stock price, exercise price, 
expected dividends, expected risk free interest rates 
and expected share price volatility. In addition, 
specific factors in relation to the likely achievement 
of performance hurdles and employment tenure 
have been taken into account.

The July 2002 award, which was tested on 
30 September 2004 against the set performance 
hurdles, achieved the TSR performance hurdle at 
the 100th percentile. Accordingly, all share rights 
outstanding for this award vested having regard 
to the outstanding performance achieved.

The September 2002 award has an additional 
restriction that any shares acquired under this 
award cannot be sold prior to 30 September 2007 
and any participant who resigns during this two 
year holding period forfeits any shares acquired 
under this award, unless the Board (in its absolute 
discretion) determines otherwise.

In September 2004, 201 senior and high potential 
managers were invited to participate in the Long 
Term Incentive Plan.

c) Long Term Incentive Plan – 
Outline of Specific Awards

(i) July 2002 Award

Nominated executives were awarded share rights 
in BlueScope Steel Limited in lieu of the awards 
that would otherwise have been made under 
BHP Billiton Limited’s Long Term Incentive Plan in 
October 2001. For this award, a once-only increase 
equivalent to an additional 50% of the value of 
the award was made. This once-only increase 
was to recognise that, but for the BlueScope Steel 
demerger, the nominated employees would have 
been eligible for an award under the BHP Billiton 
Limited’s Long Term Incentive Plan in October 
2001, and the first performance period under the 
BlueScope Steel Long Term Incentive Plan was 
shorter than the three year period usually adopted 
under BHP Billiton Limited’s plan. 

TSR Performance Hurdle

First Performance Period
% of Share Rights that Vest

Second Performance Period
% of Share Rights that Vest

80th – 100th percentile

100%

70th – < 80th percentile

60th – < 70th percentile

50th – < 60th percentile

< 50th percentile

90%

70%

50%

50%

50%

50%

50%

50% of share rights awarded lapse 
and 50% to be carried over to a 
second performance period at the 
Board’s discretion

None – all unvested share rights lapse 
immediately.

Details of the July 2002 Award

Market Price Share Rights

Nil Priced Share Rights

Grant Date

25 July 2002

25 July 2002

From 30 September 2004

From 30 September 2004

Exercise Date (subject to 
vesting requirements)

Latest Expiry Date

Share Rights Granted

Number of Participants 
at Grant Date

Number of Current 
Participants

Exercise Price (1)

Fair Value Estimate 
at Grant Date (2)

Share Rights Lapsed 
since Grant Date

25 July 2007

14,355,000

105

3

$2.85

$5,742,000

1,265,394

Performance hurdle achieved

100%

Number of Share Rights 
Vested

Number of Share Rights 
Exercised

Number of participants 
at Exercise Date

Share Rights still to be 
Exercised

13,089,606

12,808,655

100

280,951

31 March 2006

2,800,300

12

11

Nil

$3,276,351

194,900

100%

2,605,400

2,605,400

11

–

1  The share rights awarded in July 2002 comprised both nil priced and market priced share rights. The exercise price established for the 

Market Priced Share Rights was based on the volume weighted average price of the BlueScope Steel Limited shares sold under the sale 
facility at the time of the demerger from BHP Billiton and BlueScope Steel shares on the Australian Stock Exchange during the first five 
trading days. Selected executives received Share Rights with a nil exercise price.

2  External valuation advice from PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities Limited has been used to determine the value of the Executive Share 
Rights at grant date. Currently, these fair values are not recognised as expenses in the financial statements. However, were these grants 
to have been expensed they would have been amortised over the vesting period resulting in an estimated increase in employee benefits 
expense of $1.04 million for the 2005 (2004: $4.2 million) financial year. Note that no adjustments to these amounts have been made to 
reflect actual forfeiture of shares.

PAGE 46

(ii) September 2002 Award

Vesting Requirements

TSR Performance Hurdle

% of Share Rights that Vest

80th – 100th percentile

70th – < 80th percentile

60th – < 70th percentile

51st – < 60th percentile

< 51st percentile

100%

90%

70%

50%

None – all unvested share rights lapse immediately.

Details of the September 2002 Award

Nil Priced Share Rights

Grant Date

30 September 2002

Exercise Date (subject to vesting requirements)

From 1 October 2005

Expiry Date

Share Rights Granted

Number of Participants at Grant Date

Number of current Participants

Exercise Price

Fair Value Estimate at Grant Date1

Share Rights Lapsed since Grant Date

(iii) September 2003 Award

Vesting Requirements 

30 September 2006

4,751,500

119

116

Nil

$4,656,470

282,621

TSR Performance Hurdle

% of Share Rights that Vest

1  External valuation advice from PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities 
Limited has been used to determine the value of the Executive 
Share Rights at grant date. Currently, these fair values are not 
recognised as expenses in the financial statements. However, 
were these grants to have been expensed they would have been 
amortised over the vesting period resulting in an estimated 
increase in employee benefits expense of $1.55 million for 
the year ended 30 June 2005 (2004: $1.55 million). Note that 
no adjustment to this amount has been made to reflect actual 
forfeiture of shares.

75th – 100th percentile

51st – < 75th percentile

< 51st percentile

100%

A minimum of 52% plus a further 2% for each 
increased percentage ranking. Any unvested 
share rights will be carried over to be assessed 
at subsequent performance periods.

All share rights will be carried over to be assessed 
at subsequent performance periods.

If the performance hurdles are not met at the end 
of the first performance period (or are only partially 
met), four subsequent performance periods will apply. 
The subsequent performance periods commence 
on 1 October 2003 and end on 31 March 2007, 
30 September 2007, 31 March 2008 and 
30 September 2008 respectively. Vesting at a 
subsequent performance period will only occur if 
the vesting requirements have been met and any 
previous percentile rankings are exceeded.

Details of the September 2003 Award

Grant Date

Exercise Date (subject to vesting requirements)
Expiry Date
Share Rights Granted
Number of Participants at Grant Date
Number of current Participants
Exercise Price
Fair Value Estimate at Grant Date1
Share Rights Lapsed since Grant Date

Nil Priced Share Rights

24 October 2003 (All executives excluding 
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer) 
13 November 2003 (Managing Director and 
Chief Executive Officer)
From 1 October 2006
30 September 2008
3,183,800
144
141
Nil
$9,678,752
109,453

1  External valuation advice from PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities 
Limited has been used to determine the value of the Executive 
Share Rights at grant date. Currently, these fair values are not 
recognised as expenses in the financial statements. However, 
were these grants to have been expensed they would have been 
amortised over the vesting period resulting in an estimated 
increase in employee benefits expense of $3.3 million for the year 
ended 30 June 2005 (2004: $2.3 million). Note that no adjustment 
to this amount has been made to reflect actual forfeiture of shares.

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DIRECTORS' REPORT

PAGE 47

(iv) September 2004 Award

Vesting Requirements 

TSR Performance Hurdle

% of Share Rights that Vest

75th – 100th percentile

51st – < 75th percentile

< 51st percentile

100%

A minimum of 52% plus a further 2% for each percentage 
ranking. Any unvested share rights will be carried over 
to be assessed at subsequent performance periods.

All share rights will be carried over to be assessed 
at subsequent performance periods.

Details of the September 2004 Award

Nil Priced Share Rights

Grant Date 2

31 August 2004

Exercise Date (subject to vesting requirements)

From 1 September 2007

Expiry Date

Share Rights Granted

Number of Participants at Grant Date

Number of current Participants

Exercise Price

Fair Value Estimate at Grant Date 1

Share Rights Lapsed since Grant Date

31 October 2009

2,306,400

201

200

Nil

$11,139,912

6000

If the performance hurdles are not met at the end 
of the first performance period (or are only partially 
met), four subsequent performance periods will apply. 
The subsequent performance periods commence 
on 1 September 2004 and end on 29 February 2008, 
31 August 2008, 28 February 2009 and 31 August 2009 
respectively. Vesting at a subsequent performance 
period will only occur if the vesting requirements 
have been met and any previous percentile rankings 
are exceeded.

1  External valuation advice from PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities 
Limited has been used to determine the value of the Executive 
Share Rights at grant date. Currently, these fair values are not 
recognised as expenses in the financial statements. However, 
were these grants to have been expensed they would have 
been amortised over the vesting period resulting in an estimated 
increase in employee benefits expense of $2.3 million for the 
year ended 30 June 2005. Note that no adjustment to this amount 
has been made to reflect actual forfeiture of shares.

2  The award granted on 31 August 2004 to the Managing Director 
and Chief Executive Officer was subject to Shareholder approval 
at the 2004 Annual General Meeting.

d) Special Share Rights Awards

e) Employee Share Purchase Plan

Special Share Rights are awarded by the Board from 
time to time to meet specific or exceptional demands.  
In 2004, special share rights were awarded to two 
executives to facilitate the effective integration and 
turn around of the North America Coated and Building 
Products business, the effective integration of the 
China operations of BlueScope Butler and successful 
completion of Asian capital expansion. The awards 
have been made in the form of share rights in 2 
tranches which are vested on the achievement of 
specific performance objectives determined by the 
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer and 
the Chairman of the Board. The performance hurdles 
set are tested at the end of each performance period 
(i.e. 30 June 2005 for Tranche 1 and 30 June 2006 
for Tranche 2). Any unvested share rights rolled over 
from Tranche 1 which did not meet the performance 
hurdles are added to the Tranche 2 award and 
new performance hurdles determined for the period 
1 July 2005 – 30 June 2006. No tranche 1 special 
share rights were vested.

Facility is also made available, to Australian 
employees only at this stage, to be provided with 
shares at market prices through salary sacrifice from 
salary or incentives/bonuses. Under the purchase plan, 
shares can be provided on a tax deferred basis and 
therefore sale or transfer is restricted. Shares provided 
under the Plan are entitled to participate in dividends.

1.3.5 Superannuation

BlueScope Steel operates superannuation funds in 
Australia, New Zealand and North America for its 
employees. In these locations there are a combination 
of defined benefit and accumulation type plans. The 
defined benefit schemes are closed to new members.

Contributions are also made to other international 
superannuation plans for employees outside of 
Australia, New Zealand and North America.

1.3.6 Other Benefits

Additionally, executives are eligible to participate 
in an annual health assessment program designed 
to safeguard the Company against the loss or long 
term absence for health related reasons.

PAGE 48

2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMPANY PERFORMANCE AND REMUNERATION

The graph set out below outlines the performance of BlueScope Steel in terms of Total Shareholder Return 
compared to the performance of the S&P/ASX 100 for the same period. The TSR Index for BlueScope Steel 
as at 30 June 2005 was 314.9 compared to 151.2 for the S&P/ASX 100.

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED
TOTAL SHAREHOLDER RETURN INDEX COMPARED TO S&P/ASX100
15/07/02 TO 30/06/05

Source: ABN AMRO

450

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

1/07/02

1/01/03

1/07/03

1/01/04

1/07/04

1/01/05

1/07/05

BlueScope Steel – TSR Index

S&P/ASX 100 – TSR Index (Rebased)

An analysis of other Company performance and performance related remuneration data relating to the nominated 
senior Corporate executives set out in Section 3 over the same period are set out in the tables below:

BlueScope Steel Performance Analysis

Measure

Share Price

Change in Share Price $

Change in Share Price %

Dividend Per Share

Earnings Per Share

NPAT $m

% movement

EBIT $m

% movement

EBITDA $m

% movement

30 June 2002

30 June 2003

30 June 2004

30 June 2005

$2.85 (1)

–

–

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

$160m

–

$412m

–

$3.72

$0.87

30.5%

0.29 cents

57.1 cents

$452m

–

$611m

282%

$881m

114%

$6.74

$3.02

81.2%

0.40 cents

77.8 cents

$584m

29.2%

$818m

34%

$1105m

25%

$8.23

$1.49

22.1%

0.62 cents

137.4 cents

$1,007m

72.4%

$1388m

70%

$1696

53%

(1)  Share Price as at 15 July 2002

As reflected in the table above, over the total period:

(cid:129)  EBITDA has increased by 312% since 30 June 2002.

(cid:129)  EBIT has increased by 768% since 30 June 2002.

(cid:129)  Earnings per share for the two years ended 30 June 2003 to 30 June 2005 have increased by 141%.

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DIRECTORS' REPORT

PAGE 49

BSL Performance Related Remuneration Analysis for Senior Corporate Executives

Measure

Year ended 30 June 2003

Year ended 30 June 2004

Year ended 30 June 2005

Average % increase in short term incentive Payments

1st year

1.9

12.3

The Board Remuneration Strategy short term incentive component takes into account business unit financial performances and non financial and strategic hurdles. Market 
consensus on future earnings is also taken into account in setting financial targets as these take into account forecast movements in steel prices, exchange rate and other 
external factors likely to impact financial performance. Some participants in short term incentives have not met all of the hurdles with the result that some short term 
incentive payments have been below the possible maximum level. On average, the short term incentives payable to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer 
and other senior nominated executives was 100% of the potential short term incentive which could be awarded, which reflects the outstanding results achieved this year.

In relation to long term incentives, share price and earnings performance have been in the top percentile when measured against the Companies in the S&P/ASX 100 index 
and this performance is the key factor impacting the value of long term equity incentives and their likelihood of meeting the required hurdles for vesting.

3. SPECIFIC REMUNERATION DETAILS 

3.1 Directors

Details of the audited remuneration for the year ended 30 June 2005 for each Non-Executive Director of BlueScope Steel is set out in the following table.

PRIMARY

POST-EMPLOYMENT

Name

GJ Kraehe

RJ McNeilly

J Crabb 
(resigned 27 July 2004)

DJ Grady

HK McCann

PJ Rizzo

Tan YP

                BASE FEE

Cash
$

Salary Sacrifice
$

Committee Fee / 
Allowance
$

340,304

168,681

10,577

73,199

111,935

120,844

111,434

37,811

18,742

–

52,839

14,103

16,779

14,604

–

–

1,269

20,000

15,000

30,000

20,000

Other
$

6,678

–

–

–

–

–

–

Superannuation
$

11,585

11,585

1,337

11,585

11,585

–

11,585

Total
$

396,378

199,008

13,183

157,623

152,623

167,623

157,623

PAGE 50

3.2 Details of senior executives’ (including the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer’s) remuneration 

The audited information contained in the table below represents the annual remuneration for the year ended 30 June 2005 for the Managing Director and Chief Executive 
Officer and the six most highly remunerated executives responsible for the strategic and operational direction of the Company.

In addition there was one Business Unit executive who met the requirement for remuneration disclosure for the financial year ended 30 June 2005, being Mr Alossi, 
President BlueScope Buildings, China.

PRIMARY

POST-
EMPLOYMENT

EQUITY

Name

  Cash Salary 
and Fees
$

At Risk CashLX 
Bonus (1)
$LX 

Other
$

Sub total
$

Superannuation
$

Share Rights (2)
$LX  

Total
$

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
KC Adams – Managing 
Director and CEO  

EXECUTIVES 
LE Hockridge – President 
BlueScope Steel North America 
(effective 1 April 2005, formerly 
President Industrial Markets)

BG Kruger – Chief Financial 
Officer

KJ Fagg – President Market 
and Logistics Solutions

NH Cornish – President 
Australian Building and 
Manufacturing Markets 

M Courtnall – President Asian 
Building and Manufacturing 
Markets

IR Cummin – Executive Vice 
President Human Resources 

M Alossi – President 
BlueScope Buildings China

1,411,442

2,131,250

8,302

3,550,994

207,482

803,956

4,562,432

630,161

600,000

67,011

1,297,172

90,490

294,664

1,682,326

525,747

470,000

526,385

470,000

476,318

430,000

–

–

–

995,747

76,779

230,439

1,302,965

996,385

73,769

250,400

1,320,554

906,318

69,497

217,821

1,193,636

424,029

380,000

41,686

845,715

61,811

187,042

1,094,568

406,385

370,000

1,527

777,912

56,969

148,931

983,812

358,455

505,579 (3)

414,811 (4)

1,278,845

12,200

12,850

1,303,895

(1)  Refer to Section 1.3.3 for details of the at risk cash bonus (Short-Term Incentive Plan). Amounts reflect the annual cash bonus for the year ended 30 June 2005 based on actual performance. Actual annual 

cash bonus amounts will be paid in September 2005.

(2)  Valuation of equity remuneration in the form of share rights granted, excludes the effect of tenure risk. For each award, total fair value is pro-rated over the award period, from grant date to expected vesting date.
(3)  Mr Alossi’s previous employment agreement provided for a bonus for the 12 months ending 31 December 2004.  50% of that bonus has been included in the table above. Further Mr Alossi was eligible for a 

bonus for the 6 months ending 30 June 2005, which has been included above. Mr Alossi’s contract has now been aligned with the BlueScope Steel STI Plan as outlined in Section 1.3.3.

(4)  Mr Alossi is a US Expatriate with BlueScope Steel China. The non-monetary benefits indicated relate to benefits arising out of his assignment in China, including medical plan, housing, foreign and US taxes.

It should be noted that effective 1 July 2005, the following senior executives assumed new positions within the BlueScope Steel Limited organisation structure, 
with the exception of Mr Cummin who assumes his new role effective 1 September 2005.

Name

New Title 

BG Kruger
KJ Fagg
NH Cornish
IR Cummin

President Australian Manufacturing Markets
President Australian Building and Logistics Solutions
President Australian and New Zealand Industrial Markets
Executive Vice President People and Performance

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DIRECTORS' REPORT

PAGE 51

Share Rights granted to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer and the top seven most highly remunerated executives during the financial year 
ended 30 June 2005 were as follows:

Name

DIRECTORS
K C Adams

EXECUTIVES

L E Hockridge 

B G Kruger

K Fagg

N Cornish

M Courtnall 

I Cummin

M Alossi

% of Remuneration 
Consisting of 
Share Rights (1)

Value of  Share Rights 
Granted during the Year 
at Grant Date (2)

Value of Share Rights 
exercised during 
the year (3)

Value of Share Rights at 
lapse date, that lapsed 
during the year (4)

18%

18%

18%

20%

20%

18%

16%

1%

931,368

353,118

277,046

277,046

250,832

222,048

214,338

61,680

917,900

388,332

296,542

345,988

296,542

236,510

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

(1)  This figure is calculated on the value of share rights awarded in the year ended 30 June 2005 as a percentage of the total value of all remuneration received in that same year.
(2) External valuation advice from PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities Limited has been used to determine the value of the Executive Share Rights. The valuation has been made using the Binomial Option Pricing 
Model using standard option pricing inputs such as the underlying stock price, exercise price, expected dividends, expected risk free interest rates and expected share price volatility. In addition, the likely 
achievement of performance hurdles of the share rights have been taken into account.

(3) External valuation advice from PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities Limited has been used to determine the value of the Executive Share Rights for the July 2002 award that were exercised in the year ended 

30 June 2005.  

(4) Mr Hockridge and Mr Courtnall were awarded 20,000 and 10,000 Share Rights (Tranche 1) respectively under the Special Incentive award on 3 August 2004. Tranche 1 performance hurdles as at 30 June 2005 were 

not met. In accordance with the terms of the Special Share Rights Issue the Share Rights from Tranche 1 were rolled over into the second performance period. A further Award of 20,000 and 10,000 respectively 
(Tranche 2) have been awarded and both Tranches are subject to new performance hurdles as determined by the Board for the period 1 July 2005 – 30 June 2006.  Refer to Section 1.3.4 (d) for further information.

The Share Rights Awarded to Executives under the July 2002 Award vested at the 100% level in September 2004. 

Details of the audited Share Rights holdings for the specified executives are set out below:

Name

DIRECTORS
K C Adams

EXECUTIVES
L E Hockridge 

B G Kruger

K Fagg

N Cornish

M Courtnall

I Cummin

M Alossi 

Share Rights 
Balance at 
30 June 2004

Share Rights Granted in 
year ended 
30 June 2005

Share Rights Vested in 
year ended 
30 June 2005

Share Rights Lapsed in 
year ended 
30 June 2005

Share Rights 
Balance at 
30 June 2005

1,448,800

181,200

552,900

425,700

488,700

419,200

342,300

94,700

–

68,700

53,900

53,900

48,800

43,200

41,700

12,000

685,000

289,800

221,300

258,200

221,300

176,500

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

945,000

331,800

258,300

284,400

246,700

209,000

136,400

12,000

PAGE 52

4. EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS

ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION

4.1 Managing Director and Chief Executive 
Officer – Outline Of Employment Contract

Outlined below are the key terms and conditions 
of employment contained within the employment 
contract for Mr Kirby Adams, the Managing Director 
and Chief Executive Officer.

Mr Adams’ base employment contract conditions 
were determined prior to the demerger on 
7 July 2002 and are regularly reviewed by the Board 
of BlueScope Steel. He receives an annual base 
pay of $1,425,000. This amount is reviewed on an 
annual basis in accordance with the Board’s senior 
executive salary review policy. In addition, Mr Adams 
is eligible to participate in the Short Term Incentive 
Plan and, subject to shareholder approval, 
Long Term Incentive Plan awards.

Mr Adams may terminate the contract by giving 
three months’ written notice, upon which he is 
entitled to his annual base pay, which has been 
accrued but not paid up to the date of termination, 
plus any vested awards under the Long Term 
Incentive Plan, and any other payments for which 
he is eligible under the Short Term Incentive Plan. 
The Company may terminate the contract by giving 
one months’ written notice (or a payment in lieu of 
notice based on Mr Adams’ annual base pay) and 
a gross termination payment equal to 24 months 
of Mr Adams’ annual base pay, plus any applicable 
Short Term Incentive Plan and Long Term Incentive 
Plan awards, and reimbursement for the reasonable 
costs of relocation from Australia to the United 
States of America. The Company may also terminate 
the contract on 30 days’ notice in the event of 
serious misconduct or a serious breach of the 
contract. In this event, Mr Adams is only entitled 
to his annual base pay which has accrued but not 
been paid up to the date of termination plus any 
vested Long Term Incentive Plan awards.

4.2 Other Specified Executives

Remuneration and other terms of employment for 
the other specified executives set out above are 
formalised in employment contracts which can be 
terminated with notice. Each of these agreements 
provide for the annual review of annual base pay, 
provision of performance-related cash bonuses, 
other benefits including annual health assessment, 
and participation, when eligible, in the Long Term 
Incentive Plan. The contracts provide for notice of 
one to six months for resignation by the executive 
or termination by the Company. In the event of 
termination by the Company other than for cause, 
a termination payment of 12 months pay or the 
Company Redundancy Policy, whichever is the 
greater, will apply. The Company Redundancy 
Policy provides for 14 weeks pay plus 2.5 weeks 
for each year of service.

BlueScope Steel’s Health, Safety, Environment and 
Community (“HSEC”) Policy provides the foundation 
for the way in which environment is managed 
at all levels of the organisation. BlueScope Steel 
cares for the environment and is committed to the 
efficient use of resources, reducing and preventing 
pollution and product stewardship. Product 
stewardship is a product-centred approach to 
environmental protection, focusing on all aspects 
of the product lifecycle.

The BlueScope Steel Group has continued to ensure 
its environmental management systems are robust 
by again achieving ISO 14001 accreditation following 
a series of external reviews performed during 
the reporting period. BlueScope Steel has also 
developed a customised compliance system to 
enable its environmental responsibilities to be 
appropriately managed. This provides a systematic 
means for line management to both understand 
and demonstrate compliance with their specific 
statutory obligations on a monthly basis. The 
environmental compliance system has been 
successfully implemented at a number of BlueScope 
Steel’s operations, including Port Kembla, Springhill 
and Western Port already. It is anticipated that 
by the end of the 2005–2006 financial year, the 
compliance system will have been implemented 
at most of BlueScope Steel’s operations. 

BlueScope Steel notified relevant authorities 
of a number of statutory non-compliances with 
environmental regulations during the reporting 
period. Most of these were relatively minor in 
nature and related to the Port Kembla Steelworks 
in New South Wales (NSW) Australia. There were 
no significant environmental incidents recorded 
during the reporting period.

As reported in last year’s Directors’ Report, 
BlueScope Steel received a fine of $70,000 under 
the Protection of Environment Operations Act 
(NSW) 1997, in July 2004, over an incident at the 
Port Kembla Steelworks in March 2003 that caused 
air emissions resulting from a failure to maintain 
equipment. This is reported as the fine was handed 
down within the 2004–2005 financial year. 

The Port Kembla Steelworks has entered into 
voluntary agreements with the NSW Department 
of Environment and Conservation (“DEC”) to 
investigate possible land contamination of two 
areas within its site, the No.2 Steelworks and 
the recycling area. These investigations continue 
to take place in consultation and co-operation 
with the DEC.

INDEMNIFICATION AND INSURANCE 
OF OFFICERS

BlueScope Steel has entered into directors’ and 
officers’ insurance policies and paid an insurance 
premium in respect of the insurance policies, to 
the extent permitted by the Corporations Act 2001. 
The insurance policies cover former Directors of 
BlueScope Steel along with the current Directors 
of BlueScope Steel (listed on page 42). Executive 
officers and employees of BlueScope Steel and 
its related bodies corporate are also covered.

In accordance with Rule 21 of its Constitution, 
BlueScope Steel, to the maximum extent permitted 
by law:

(cid:129) must indemnify any current or former Director 

or Secretary; and

(cid:129) may indemnify current or former executive officers,

of BlueScope Steel or any of its subsidiaries, against 
all liabilities (and certain legal costs) incurred in 
those capacities to a person, including a liability 
incurred as a result of appointment or nomination 
by BlueScope Steel or its subsidiaries as a trustee 
or as a director, officer or employee of another 
corporation.

The current Directors of BlueScope Steel have each 
entered into an Access, Insurance and Indemnity 
Deed with BlueScope Steel. The Deed addresses the 
matters set out in Rule 21 of the Constitution and 
includes, among other things, provisions requiring 
BlueScope Steel to indemnify a Director to the 
extent to which they are not already indemnified as 
permitted under law, and to use its best endeavours 
to maintain an insurance policy covering a Director 
while they are in office and seven years after 
ceasing to be a Director.

The Directors have not included details of the nature 
of the liabilities covered or the amount of the 
premium paid in respect of the directors’ and officers’ 
liability insurance contract, as (in accordance with 
normal commercial practice) such disclosure is 
prohibited under the terms of the contract.

Under the terms of the agreement for the acquisition 
of Butler Manufacturing Company, the Company 
undertook to assume Butler Manufacturing’s 
commitments to indemnify, and maintain insurance 
in respect of, former Directors and officers of 
Butler Manufacturing against liabilities incurred 
by them as directors and officers, to the extent 
permitted by Delaware law. On acquisition of Butler 
Manufacturing Company, BlueScope Steel continued 
Butler’s arrangements to indemnify former Directors 
and officers. 

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DIRECTORS' REPORT

PAGE 53

This report is made in accordance with a resolution 
of the directors.

G J KRAEHE
CHAIRMAN

K C ADAMS 
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CEO

Melbourne
22 August 2005

AUDITOR’S INDEPENDENCE 
DECLARATION TO THE DIRECTORS 
OF BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED

In relation to our audit of the financial report 
of BlueScope Steel Limited for the year ended 
30 June 2005, to the best of my knowledge and 
belief, there have been no contraventions of 
the auditor independence requirements of the 
Corporations Act 2001 or any applicable code 
of professional conduct.

ERNST & YOUNG

ALAN I BECKETT 
PARTNER

Melbourne
22 August 2005

PROCEEDINGS ON BEHALF OF 
BLUESCOPE STEEL

As at the date of this report, there are no leave 
applications or proceedings brought on behalf 
of BlueScope Steel under section 237 of the 
Corporations Act 2001.

ROUNDING OF AMOUNTS

BlueScope Steel is a company of a kind referred to 
in Class Order 98/0100, issued by the Australian 
Securities and Investments Commission, relating 
to the “rounding off” of amounts in the Directors’ 
Report. Amounts in the Directors’ Report have been 
rounded off in accordance with that Class Order 
to the nearest hundred thousand dollars.

AUDITOR

Ernst & Young was appointed as auditor for 
BlueScope Steel at the 2002 Annual General Meeting.

AUDITOR INDEPENDENCE AND 
NON-AUDIT SERVICES

The auditor’s independence declaration for the 
year ended 30 June 2005 has been received from 
Ernst & Young. This is set out at page 53 of the 
Directors’ Report.

(cid:129) Ernst & Young provided the following non-audit 
services during the year ended 30 June 2005.  
$497,000; international assignee employment 
taxation services; 

(cid:129) $178,000; country specific taxation compliance 
services and advice in New Zealand, Malaysia, 
Vietnam and North America;

(cid:129) $139,000; specific compliance tax services in 

relation to the acquisition of Butler Manufacturing 
Company; 

(cid:129) $5,000; review of BlueScope Steel (Thailand) Board 

of Investment Report; and

(cid:129) $26,000; bookkeeping and tax services for Butler 
Manufacturing Company’s Chile subsidiary. The 
Directors were satisfied, on the basis of materiality, 
that auditor independence was not compromised. 
Note: Butler Manufacturing Company was previously 
audited by KPMG.

The Directors are satisfied that the provision of 
these non-audit services is compatible with the 
general standard of independence for auditors 
in accordance with the Corporations Act. The 
nature and scope of each type of non-audit service 
provided is considered by the Directors not to have 
compromised auditor independence. The Directors’ 
belief is consistent with advice received by the 
Audit and Risk Committee of the Board.

PAGE 54

2005 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE STATEMENT

DISCLOSURE REQUIRED BY THE ASX CGC RECOMMENDATIONS

REFERENCE

Functions reserved to the Board and those delegated to management

See Role of the Board on page 55

Skills experience and expertise relevant to the position of Director

See Board of Directors on pages 38–39

Names of Directors considered by the Board to constitute independent Directors 
and BlueScope Steel’s relevant thresholds 

See Independent Non-Executive Directors on page 56

Procedure for independent professional advice 

See Access to information and independent advice on page 55

Directors’ terms of office 

See Board of Directors on pages 38–39

Names of the Nomination Committee members and attendance

See Nomination Committee and Meetings of Directors on pages 59 and 42

Composition of Board Chairperson and role of Chairman and Managing Director 
and Chief Executive Officer

Code of conduct for Directors and executives 

Company code of conduct

Securities Trading Policy

See Role and Composition of the Board on page 55

See Guide to Business Conduct on page 61

See Guide to Business Conduct  on page 61

See Share ownership and dealing on page 60

Audit and Risk Committee members and their qualifications

See Audit and Risk Committee on page 58

Audit and Risk Committee meetings and attendance

See Meetings of Directors on page 42

Financial statements sign-off and structure of Audit and Risk Committee 

See Audit and Risk Committee on page 58

Procedures for ASX disclosure requirements 

Shareholder communications strategy 

Attendance of external auditor

Risk oversight committee

Risk management and internal controls

Performance evaluation

See Shareholders on page 55

See BlueScope Steel’s website www.bluescopesteel.com

See the External audit on page 60

See Audit and Risk Committee on page 58

See Internal control and risk management on page 58

See Board on page 57

Company’s remuneration policies and disclosure

See Remuneration Report and Non-Executive Directors’ remuneration on page 43 

Remuneration and Organisation Committee members and attendance

See Remuneration and Organisation Committee and Meetings of Directors 
on pages 59 and 42

Retirement benefits for Non-Executive Directors

See Non-Executive Directors’ remuneration on page 43

INTRODUCTION

The Board operates in accordance with a set of 
corporate governance policies, which take into account 
relevant best practice recommendations including 
the ASX Corporate Governance Council Principles 
of Good Corporate Governance and Best Practice 
Recommendations (“ASX CGC Recommendations”).  
The Board considers that BlueScope Steel complies with 
the requirements in the ASX CGC Recommendations.

BlueScope Steel is a global organisation, with 
businesses operating in many countries, including 
Australia, New Zealand, North America, China and 
elsewhere in Asia. Entities within the BlueScope Steel 
Group must, therefore, comply with a range of varying 
legal, regulatory and governance requirements.

The Board places great importance on the 
governance of BlueScope Steel and, in particular, 
the need to focus on carrying out prudent risk-taking 
activities, which achieve a balance between:

(cid:129) The generation of rewards for shareholders who 

invest their capital; 

(cid:129) The supply of goods and services of value to the 

BlueScope Steel’s global customers; and 

(cid:129) The provision of safe and meaningful employment 
for employees in a way, which contributes to the 
welfare of the community.

This Corporate Governance Statement outlines 
the key aspects and mechanisms of BlueScope 
Steel’s governance framework, which have been 
established, and kept under review, by the Board.

Summaries of the charters under which the Board 
and Board committees operate (including a copy of 
the Audit and Risk Committee charter) and other 
relevant information referred to in this Corporate 
Governance Statement are available on BlueScope 
Steel’s website www.bluescopesteel.com.

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DIRECTORS' REPORT

PAGE 55

SHAREHOLDERS

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Access to information and independent advice

Shareholders who elect the Board perform 
a fundamental role in the governance of 
BlueScope Steel. 

The Board recognises that shareholders must receive 
high quality relevant information in a timely manner. 
Arrangements for communicating with shareholders 
are summarised on BlueScope Steel’s website 
www.bluescopesteel.com. 
BlueScope Steel is subject to continuous disclosure 
obligations under the Listing Rules of the Australian 
Stock Exchange (ASX) and Australian corporations 
legislation. Subject to limited exceptions under the 
continuous disclosure requirements, BlueScope Steel 
must immediately notify the market, through the 
ASX of any information, which a reasonable person 
would expect to have a material effect on, or lead 
to a substantial movement in, the price or value of 
its shares.

To achieve these objectives and satisfy the 
regulatory requirements, the Board provides 
information to shareholders and the market in 
several ways, including:

(cid:129) Communicating with all shareholders in annual 

reports and financial statements, releases of results 
to the ASX each half year and at BlueScope Steel’s 
Annual General Meeting; 

(cid:129) Releasing price sensitive announcements and other 
relevant significant announcements directly to the 
market via the ASX. Copies of these announcements 
are immediately placed on BlueScope Steel’s 
website www.bluescopesteel.com; 

(cid:129) Conducting briefings with analysts and institutions 
from time to time, particularly after release of full 
and half-year results. Copies of analyst briefings 
are placed on the Company’s website. In doing 
so, BlueScope Steel recognises the importance of 
making sure that any price sensitive information 
provided during these briefings is made available 
to all shareholders and the market at the same time 
and in accordance with the requirements of the 
ASX and the Australian Securities and Investments 
Commission; and 

(cid:129) Providing information on BlueScope Steel’s website, 

which contains extensive information about the 
BlueScope Steel Group and its activities, including 
statutory reports and investor information.

BlueScope Steel has a Market Disclosure Committee, 
comprising the Chairman, the Managing Director 
and Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial 
Officer, Company Secretary, the Vice-President 
Investor Relations and the Executive Vice-President 
Corporate Affairs, to monitor and assess all 
significant information, which may require disclosure. 
The Company Secretary is responsible for providing 
announcements to the ASX. A summary of 
BlueScope Steel’s Continuous Disclosure Policy 
is available on BlueScope Steel’s website 
www.bluescopesteel.com.

ROLE OF THE BOARD 

The Board’s role is to oversee the management 
of the Company on behalf of all shareholders. 

The Board has developed and adopted a Charter 
that sets out:

(cid:129) Its specific powers and responsibilities;

(cid:129) The matters relating to the management of the 
Company delegation to the Managing Director 
and Chief Executive Officer and those specifically 
reserved to the Board; and 

(cid:129) Procedures aimed at ensuring the effective operation 

of the Board.

Matters reserved to the Board include:

(cid:129) (Values and standards) setting the Company’s values 
and standards of conduct and monitoring adherence 
to these standards, in the interests of the Company’s 
shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers and 
the communities in which it operates and, generally, 
safeguarding the reputation of the Company; 

(cid:129) (Leadership) providing leadership of the Company 

within a framework of prudent and effective controls 
which enable risk to be assessed and managed; 

(cid:129) (Direction and objectives) setting the Company’s 
direction, strategies and financial objectives and 
being satisfied that the necessary financial and 
human resources are in place for the Company 
to meet its objectives; 

(cid:129) (Performance assessment) ensuring that the 

performance of management, and the Board itself, 
is regularly assessed and monitored; 

(cid:129) (Compliance) monitoring compliance with regulatory 

and ethical standards; and 

(cid:129) (Appointing Managing Director) appointing, 

terminating and reviewing the performance of the 
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

A summary of the Board Charter is available at 
BlueScope Steel’s website www.bluescopesteel.com.

The Board has delegated responsibility for the 
day-to-day operation and administration of the 
BlueScope Steel Group to the Managing Director 
and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Kirby Adams. The 
Executive Leadership Team assists the Managing 
Director and Chief Executive Officer in the day-to-day 
management of the business. The levels of authority 
for management are documented in detail in a 
Delegation of Authority Policy established under 
the Board Charter.

The Delegation of Authority Policy is readily available 
on the Company’s intranet to all employees, along 
with detailed guidelines setting the internal approvals 
that must be obtained in order to enter into specific 
transactions.

The roles of the Chairman and the Managing 
Director and Chief Executive Officer are separate.

Directors are entitled to full access to 
the information required to discharge their 
responsibilities, including access to executives 
of the BlueScope Steel Group.

The Board (as well as Board Committees and 
individual Directors) may also obtain independent 
professional advice, at the expense of the Company, 
in carrying out their responsibilities, including in the 
absence of BlueScope Steel’s management, where 
they consider it appropriate to do so. Procedures have 
been adopted to set out the practical steps by which 
independent professional advice is to be obtained.

Company Secretary

The Board is assisted by the Company Secretary, 
who advises on the management of meetings, 
the implementation of governance procedures 
and compliance with regulatory requirements.

Composition of the Board and Director 
appointment 

For the majority of the 2004/05 financial year, 
the Board comprised seven Directors, including 
six independent Non-Executive Directors and 
one Executive Director (the Managing Director 
and Chief Executive Officer). John Crabb resigned 
on 28 July 2004.  

The Board collectively brings significant commercial, 
business, operational, financial, legal and international 
experience in a range of industries. The Directors 
all bring skills and expertise, which, in aggregate, 
combine to form a Board, which is equipped to 
discharge its responsibilities. For the Directors’ 
biographies, their term of office and information 
about their skills, experience and qualifications relevant 
to their position please refer to pages 38 and 39.

BlueScope Steel’s Constitution and the Listing 
Rules of the ASX require that no member of the 
Board (other than the Managing Director and 
Chief Executive Officer) may serve for more 
than three years without being re-elected by 
shareholders at an Annual General Meeting of 
BlueScope Steel. Also, one-third of the Directors 
(not including the Managing Director and Chief 
Executive Officer) must retire, and are eligible to 
be re-elected by the shareholders at each Annual 
General Meeting. The Managing Director and 
Chief Executive Officer serve as a Director until 
he ceases to be the Chief Executive Officer. At 
the 2005 Annual General Meeting, Graham Kraehe 
and Tan Yam Pin will stand for re-election.

PAGE 56

Independent Non-Executive Directors

The Board, excluding the Director in question, 
assesses the independence of each Non-Executive 
Director at least annually in light of the interests 
disclosed by that Director, as part of its overall 
commitment to standards of corporate governance 
in line with best practice.

The Board believes that independence is one 
important attribute of an effective Non-Executive 
Director. Other important attributes include business 
acumen and experience, an inquiring mind and 
personal integrity. In addition, the Board as a whole 
must work together effectively to combine and 
leverage the skills, knowledge and experience of its 
members to provide leadership to BlueScope Steel 
in generating value for shareholders and meeting 
the expectations of other stakeholders. The work of 
the Board must be supported by robust structures 
and processes that facilitate depth and breadth of 
understanding of BlueScope Steel’s business, foster 
open and constructive debate, define roles and 
responsibilities clearly and ensure proper compliance 
with laws.

The governance process implemented by the 
Board has been designed, as a whole, to address 
all of these issues in a manner that will maximise 
the contribution of the Board to the success of 
the business.

In assessing the independence of a Non-Executive 
Director, consideration is given to the underlying 
purpose behind each of the specific relationships 
identified as relevant to independence (see below), 
and the overall purpose of independence.

The Board considers that the overall purpose of 
independence is to ensure that a Director does not 
have a relationship where there are, or are perceived 
to be, matters which could materially interfere with 
the Director:

(cid:129) Making decisions on matters that regularly come 

before the Board or its committees; 

(cid:129) Objectively assessing information and advice given, 

or obtained, by management; 

(cid:129) Setting policy for general application across the 

BlueScope Steel group of companies; and 

(cid:129) Generally, carrying out the performance of his or her 
role as a Director, or which could inhibit free Board 
discussion of matters coming before the Board.

The Board considers all of the circumstances relevant 
to a Director, in determining whether the Director 
is free from any interest and any business or other 
relationship, which could, or could reasonably be 
perceived to, materially interfere with the Director’s 
ability to act in the best interests of BlueScope 
Steel. Amongst the circumstances considered by 
the Board are a range of factors, including the 
relations described in Box 2.1 of the ASX CGC 
Recommendations. In determining whether a 

sufficiently material relationship (as described in 
Box 2.1 of the ASX CGC Recommendations) exists 
between BlueScope Steel and a third party, the 
Board has regard to all the circumstances of the 
relationship, including, among other things:

(cid:129) (expenses/revenues) the proportion of a class of 

expenses or revenues that the relationship represents 
to both BlueScope Steel and the third party; 

(cid:129) (strategic importance) the strategic importance to 

BlueScope Steel’s business of the goods or services 
purchased or supplied by BlueScope Steel; 

(cid:129) (uniqueness of services) the extent to which the 
services supplied are integral to the operation of 
BlueScope Steel’s business, including the extent 
to which the services provided are unique and not 
readily replaceable; 

(cid:129) (goods/services) the nature of the goods or services; 

(cid:129) (transaction) the nature of the transaction; and 

(cid:129) (value) the value of the transaction to BlueScope 

Steel and the other party to the transaction. 

Materiality is considered from the perspective 
of both BlueScope Steel and its Directors.

The Board considers that each Non-Executive 
Director is independent when assessed on the 
criteria above, taking into account all relevant 
matters and relationships of the particular 
Non-Executive Director. Relevantly, the Board’s 
reasons include: 

(cid:129) At the date of this report, Mr Kraehe held the 

position of Non-Executive Chairman of the National 
Australia Bank Limited (but has announced his 
retirement effective September 2005). National 
Australia Bank Limited is a supplier of banking 
services and funding facilities. The National 
Australia Bank Limited forms part of a consortium 
of twelve banks providing funding to the BlueScope 
Steel Group. Decisions required by the consortium 
are by majority of the banks (as a minimum). 
National Australia Bank is not the transactional or 
principal banker for the Company. After assessing 
all of the circumstances of the arrangements with 
the National Australia Bank, the Company does not 
consider National Australia Bank to be a “material” 
supplier for the purpose of the assessment of 
independence. Having considered the goods and 
services supplied by the National Australia Bank 
Limited and the materiality criteria set out above, 
the Board considers that this relationship is not 
material for the purpose of independence. Mr Kraehe 
does not participate in any decisions regarding 
transactions with the National Australia Bank Limited.

(cid:129) Mr McCann was a non-partner Chairman of the 
firm Allens Arthur Robinson until the end of the 
2004 calendar year. Allens Arthur Robinson is not 
the exclusive or primary provider of legal services 
to BlueScope Steel and provides legal services to 
BlueScope Steel on normal terms and conditions. 
The Board considers that, having regard to 
Mr McCann’s role with the firm, the amount of 
the fees paid to Allens Arthur Robinson and the 
nature of the services supplied, and based on the 
materiality criteria set out above, Allens Arthur 
Robinson is not a material professional adviser for 
the purposes of independence. The Board also notes 
that Mr McCann is not involved in Allens Arthur 
Robinson providing legal advice to BlueScope Steel 
or in selecting BlueScope Steel’s legal advisers. 

(cid:129) Mr McCann is a director of Origin Energy Limited, 

which is not considered by the Board to be a 
material supplier for the purpose of independence. 
Mr McCann does not participate in any decisions 
regarding transactions with Origin Energy Limited 
and it is not the exclusive or primary provider of 
utilities to BlueScope Steel. The Board considers 
that, having regard to Mr McCann’s role with Origin  
Energy Limited, the amount paid to that company, 
the nature of services supplied, and based on the 
materiality criteria set out above, Origin Energy 
Limited is not a material supplier for the purposes of 
independence. The Board also notes that Mr McCann 
is not involved in selecting utility providers for 
BlueScope Steel.

(cid:129) Mr Rizzo is a director of the National Australia 

Bank Limited, which as noted above for Mr Kraehe, 
is not considered by the Board to be a material 
supplier for the purpose of independence. National 
Australia Bank is not the transactional or principal 
banker for the Company. After assessing all of 
the circumstances of the arrangements with the 
National Australia Bank, the Company does not 
consider National Australia Bank to be a “material” 
supplier for the purpose of the assessment of 
independence. Mr Rizzo does not participate in 
any decisions regarding transactions with National 
Australia Bank Limited. Mr Rizzo is also a member 
of the Advisory Board of Mallesons Stephen Jaques, 
a national law firm, which is one of a number of 
law firms that provide legal advisory services to 
BlueScope Steel. It is noted that Mallesons Stephen 
Jaques is not the exclusive or primary provider 
of legal services to BlueScope Steel. The Board 
considers that, having regard to Mr Rizzo’s role with 
the firm, the amount of the fees paid to Mallesons 
Stephen Jaques and the nature of the services 
supplied, and based on the materiality criteria set 
out above, Mallesons Stephen Jaques is not a 
material supplier for the purposes of independence. 
The Board also notes that Mr Rizzo is not involved 
in Mallesons Stephen Jaques providing legal advice 
to BlueScope Steel or in selecting BlueScope Steel’s 
legal advisers.

(cid:129) None of Mr McNeilly, Ms Grady or Mr Tan had 
any relationships that required assessment for 
independence purposes. 

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DIRECTORS' REPORT

PAGE 57

Board succession planning and training

Meetings without management

Executives

The Board is conscious of the need to ensure 
that proper processes are in place to deal with 
succession issues at Board level. This will require 
the Board periodically to assess the skill-set 
necessary to meet the BlueScope Steel Group’s 
demands.

The Board has established a Nomination 
Committee, chaired by Mr Graham Kraehe, 
and comprising all the Non-Executive Directors.

Newly appointed Directors receive induction 
and training. This includes management briefings 
to familiarise themselves with the significant 
operations of the BlueScope Steel Group. 
Arrangements are made for new Directors to 
visit BlueScope Steel’s major operational sites at 
Port Kembla and Western Port. Each Non-Executive 
Director has received a formal letter of appointment 
setting out the expectations and time commitments, 
among other things, required of them. 

Board meetings

During the 2004/2005 financial year, the Board 
has met 13 times to review matters such as the 
financial performance of the BlueScope Steel 
Group, current trading and key business initiatives, 
and its strategies, budgets and business plans. 
Included in the Board’s schedule was a separate 
meeting held to specifically consider BlueScope 
Steel’s Group strategy.

Procedures are also in place to ensure that 
Directors can meet to consider and decide urgent 
matters, as and when they arise.

Materials for Board and Board committee meetings 
are circulated to the Directors in advance. The 
agenda for meetings is formulated with input from 
the Chairman and the Managing Director and Chief 
Executive Officer and, if required, other Directors.

The Chairman regularly requests that a member of 
the Board review the conduct of the Board meeting 
at its conclusion.

Members of senior management frequently make 
presentations to the Board, and telecommunication 
technologies may be utilised to facilitate 
participation.

In the 2004/05 financial year, Board meetings 
were held in various locations, including in 
Melbourne (at BlueScope Steel’s head office), 
Sydney, in the United States (home to the group’s 
Butler and Vistawall businesses), and Port Kembla 
(at BlueScope Steel’s integrated steelworks 
operations). The Board has a programme to meet 
at various sites in Australia and in Asia during the 
remainder of 2005 and in 2006. The Board has also 
visited key customer operations.

The Non-Executive Directors have held regular 
meetings without the presence of management.

All BlueScope Steel executives are subject to annual 
performance planning and review.

The annual performance planning and review 
involves a key executive being evaluated by their 
immediate superior, usually the Managing Director 
and Chief Executive Officer. The executive is 
assessed against:

(cid:129) achievement of financial goals; 

(cid:129) completion of key job specifications and goals; 

(cid:129) achievement of other specific business and strategic 

objectives; 

(cid:129) contribution towards specific business plan 

objectives; and

(cid:129) adherence to values expressed in “Our Bond”.

In assessing a key executive’s performance, 
the Managing Director and Chief Executive 
Officer may consult with the Chairman. The 
outcomes of performance reviews are reported 
to the Remuneration and Organisation Committee, 
which has overall responsibility for ensuring 
that performance management processes are 
in place for all key executives. The Remuneration 
and Organisation Committee considers executive 
remuneration.

The Remuneration and Organisation Committee 
also considers the overall amount of any short-term 
incentive to be provided to eligible executives, and 
reviews and approves the specific amount of any 
short-term incentive bonus award to particular senior 
executives. The review takes into account the overall 
performance of BlueScope Steel against a range 
of measures, and the contribution made by a 
particular executive.

The Chairman and the Board conduct the 
performance evaluation of the Managing Director 
and Chief Executive Officer. This evaluation involves 
an assessment of a range of factors including the 
overall performance of BlueScope Steel and the 
achievement of pre-determined goals.

Conflicts of interest

The Board is conscious of its obligations to ensure 
that Directors avoid conflicts of interest (both real 
and apparent) between their duty to BlueScope 
Steel and their own interests. The Board has 
adopted a procedure to ensure that conflicts and 
potential conflicts of interest are disclosed to the 
Board. Where a matter is to be considered by 
the Board, the Chairman (or where the Chairman 
has a conflict or potential conflict, the Deputy 
Chairman) in consultation with Company Secretary 
may implement procedures to avoid the Director 
with the interest acting or being perceived to act in 
conflict with his or her duties to BlueScope Steel. 
The Company Secretary maintains a register of 
Directors’ interests.

Directors’ and executives’ remuneration

Details of the remuneration policies of BlueScope 
Steel are set out in the remuneration report 
contained in this report on pages 43–51.

Board

The Board reviews its effectiveness and individual 
performance regularly.

In 2004, the Board completed a review of its 
effectiveness, with the assistance of an external 
consultant. The review concluded that the Board 
is functioning well with an appropriate mix of skills 
and experience and effective working relationships 
exist amongst Board members and between the 
Board and management. Consistent with the advice 
of the consultant, the Board determined that it 
would fully review its performance every two years. 
The next review will take place in the 2005/06 
financial year.

The Nomination Committee has reviewed the 
performance of Directors seeking re-election.

Board committees

The Charter of each BlueScope Steel Board 
Committee requires the committee to regularly 
review its performance and, where necessary, make 
recommendations to the Board for improving the 
committee’s effectiveness. During the financial year 
the Audit and Risk Committee conducted a formal 
review of its performance that involved seeking 
feedback from committee members, management 
and other regular committee participants such 
as, in the case of the Audit and Risk Committee, 
the external auditors. Performance reviews of the 
Remuneration and Organisation and Health Safety 
and Environment Committee are scheduled to take 
place later this calendar year.

PAGE 58

BOARD COMMITTEES

External reporting

Internal audit

Given the importance of certain matters to corporate 
governance, the Board has established a number 
of committees to assist in the execution of its 
responsibilities:

(cid:129) the Audit and Risk Committee; 

(cid:129) the Remuneration and Organisation Committee;

(cid:129) the Health, Safety and Environment Committee; and 

(cid:129) the Nomination Committee. 

Other committees of the Board may be formed to 
deal with specific matters.

Each of the Board’s committees operates under 
terms of reference (charters), detailing its roles 
and responsibilities. The charters contain a number 
of common features, including the ability of a 
committee to obtain independent professional advice 
at the expense of BlueScope Steel, the requirement 
for reporting to the Board and periodic reviews of 
committee operations.

The number of Board Committee meetings held 
during the year ended 30 June 2005 and the 
attendance at those meetings by members is set 
out in the Directors’ Report on page 42.

Regular reports of the committees’ activities are 
provided to the Board, Committee papers and 
minutes are circulated to all Directors.

Audit and Risk Committee

The Audit and Risk Committee assists the Board 
in the effective discharge of its responsibilities 
for financial reporting, internal controls, risk 
management, internal and external audit and 
insurance (with the exception of Directors’ 
and Officers’ Liability Insurance).

The Committee’s charter was amended during the 
course of the year to widen the scope of matters 
delegated to it by the Board and is set out in full on 
BlueScope Steel’s website www.bluescopesteel.com. 
Set out below is an overview of the Committee’s 
objectives, as contained in the Committee’s Charter:

(cid:129) (review of financial statements) review all published 
financial statements which are required to be signed 
by Directors, prior to approval by the Board and 
any annual or Directors’ report which discusses 
BlueScope Steel’s position or results;

(cid:129) (internal audit) approve the internal auditor, review 
the audit scope and approve internal audit plans; 

(cid:129) (internal audit findings) review and monitor 

management’s responsiveness to the internal 
audit findings; 

Insurance

(cid:129) (insurance) responsibility for reviewing and approving 
all aspects of the Company’s insurance programme 
except for the Directors’ and Officers’ Liability 
insurance, which is the responsibility of the Board.

A complete copy of the Audit and Risk Committee 
charter is available on BlueScope Steel’s website 
www.bluescopesteel.com. The Audit and Risk 
Committee meets before the finalisation of all major 
financial announcements of BlueScope Steel and 
must meet at least four scheduled times a year.

The committee assists the Board with the 
implementation of the risk management programme 
approved by the Board. The programme involves 
identification and assessment of significant risks 
and rating of the effectiveness of associated 
controls. Mitigation strategies are developed 
and implemented. Periodic reports are made 
to the Board and the Audit and Risk Committee 
on progress with this work.

As required by its charter, the Audit and Risk 
Committee is composed entirely of independent 
Non-Executive Directors.

The members of the Audit and Risk Committee are 
Mr Paul Rizzo (Committee Chairman), Mr Kevin McCann 
and Mr Ron McNeilly. In addition to their business 
experience, each member brings particular experience 
relevant to the functions of the Committee. Mr Rizzo 
has significant financial management and reporting 
experience. Mr McNeilly has an understanding of 
the industry in which BlueScope Steel operates and 
Mr McCann has both financial and legal experience, 
which is valuable to the functioning of the Audit and 
Risk Committee.

All Directors are invited to attend meetings of the 
Audit and Risk Committee, with standing invitations 
also extended to the Chief Financial Officer and 
the external and internal auditors. Discussions are 
held with the external and internal auditors without 
management being present.

(cid:129) (compliance processes) review and consider the 
processes used by management to monitor and 
ensure compliance with laws, regulation and other 
requirements relating to external reporting of 
financial information; 

(cid:129) (accounting policies) review and assess BlueScope 

Steel’s proposed professional and regulatory 
pronouncements regarding accounting policies 
and financial reporting and assess their impact 
on BlueScope Steel. 

Internal control and risk management

(cid:129) (risk management systems) consider whether 

BlueScope Steel has effective risk management 
systems in place to review, assess and manage 
business, financial and operational risk;

(cid:129) (risk management policies) approve certain financial 

risk management policies;

(cid:129) (credit limits) approve credit limits and guarantees 

up to a specified monetary limit;

(cid:129) (internal controls) review and approve management’s 

programs and policies which deal with the 
adequacy and effectiveness of internal controls over 
BlueScope Steel’s business processes, including the 
determination of financial statements; 

(cid:129) (theft and fraud reports) receive reports concerning 
material actual and suspected breaches of law, 
including fraud and theft and assess systems to 
manage this risk; 

(cid:129) (litigation and contingencies) review any litigation, 
claim or other contingency which could have a 
material effect upon the financial position or 
operating results of BlueScope Steel; 

(cid:129) (superannuation plans) receive reporting concerning 

the accounting treatment of BlueScope Steel’s 
superannuation plans and determine questions 
of accounting treatment raised; 

(cid:129) (related party transactions) review and monitor 

related party transactions and assess their propriety.

External audit

(cid:129) (external auditor) make recommendations to 

the Board on the appointment, reappointment 
or replacement and remuneration of the external 
auditor, agree the terms of engagement, review 
the audit scope and monitor auditor independence; 

(cid:129) (policies for non-audit services) develop policies for 
approval by the Board, in respect of the provision of 
non-audit services by the external auditor, and approve 
provision of non-audit services by the external auditor; 

(cid:129) (coordination with internal audit) ensure the external 
auditor is coordinated with internal audit programs; 

(cid:129) (external audit findings) review and monitor 

management’s responsiveness to the external 
audit findings. 

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DIRECTORS' REPORT

PAGE 59

Health, Safety and Environment Committee

The primary objectives of the Health, Safety and 
Environment Committee (HSEC), as set out in its 
charter, are to:

(cid:129) (HSEC Policy) adopt a Health, Safety, Environment 

and Community Policy and, as it considers necessary, 
recommend changes to that policy; 

(cid:129) (compliance) monitor BlueScope Steel’s compliance 

with the approved HSEC Policy; 

(cid:129) (HSEC standards) assess the HSEC standards of 

BlueScope Steel; 

(cid:129) (HSEC risks) assess the operations of BlueScope 
Steel and make recommendations for assessing, 
avoiding, eliminating, controlling and minimising 
HSEC risks; 

(cid:129) (legislation) assess compliance by BlueScope Steel 

with applicable legislation; 

(cid:129) (acceptable practices) research and recommend 
the adoption of acceptable HSEC practices in the 
industries in which BlueScope Steel operates; 

(cid:129) (incident reporting) receive reports concerning 
HSEC incidents within BlueScope Steel; and

(cid:129) (implications) consider HSEC issues that may have 
strategic, business and reputational implications 
for BlueScope Steel. 

The Chairman of the HSEC is Mr Ron McNeilly, an 
independent Non-Executive Director. All Directors 
are members of the HSEC because of the importance 
of health, safety and the environment to BlueScope 
Steel’s operations. The composition of the HSEC will 
be reviewed later in this calendar year. The HSEC 
charter requires that the committee meets at least 
four scheduled times per year.

Remuneration and Organisation Committee

The Remuneration and Organisation Committee 
assists the Board in ensuring that BlueScope Steel:

(cid:129) (human resources strategy) has a human resources 
strategy aligned to the overall business strategy, 
which supports the BlueScope Steel Business 
Charter Our Bond; 

(cid:129) (practices and policies) has remuneration policies 

and practices that are observed and that enable it to 
attract and retain executives and Directors who will 
create value for shareholders; 

(cid:129) (remuneration and performance) fairly and responsibly 
rewards executives having regard to the performance 
of BlueScope Steel, the creation of value for 
shareholders, the performance of the executive 
and the external remuneration environment; 

(cid:129) (succession) plans and implements the development 

and succession of executive management 
and Directors. 

The Committee has authority to advise the Board 
on specific remuneration matters and has a role to 
approve certain other matters. The specific areas 
of responsibility are human resources strategy, 
remuneration policy, executive incentive and equity 
based plans, awards under executive incentive and 
equity based plans, executive Director and senior 
management remuneration, performance management, 
succession planning, termination, succession and 
Non-Executive Director remuneration.

Board approval is required for the following:

(cid:129) (contract variation) changes to the remuneration or 

contract terms of executive Directors; 

(cid:129) (incentive plans) the design of new equity plans or 

executive cash-based incentive plans; 

(cid:129) (incentive awards) total level of award proposed from 
equity plans or executive cash-based incentive plans; 

(cid:129) (Managing Director selection) selection of the 
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer; 

(cid:129) (Managing Director compensation) compensation 

and all performance related matters for the 
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer; 

(cid:129) (executive termination payments) termination 

payments to executive Directors. 

(cid:129) (required skills) assessing the skills required 

on the Board; 

(cid:129) (Board skills) assessing the extent to which the 

required skills are represented on the Board from 
time to time; 

(cid:129) (review processes) establishing processes for the 

review of the performance of the Board as a whole 
and individual Non-Executive Directors; and 

(cid:129) (Board candidates) establishing processes for the 

identification of suitable candidates for appointment 
to the Board.

Executive Leadership Team

BlueScope Steel’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT) 
is responsible to the Managing Director and CEO 
for the day-to-day leadership and management of 
BlueScope Steel as a whole. The ELT performs its 
role in consultation with, and obtains guidance from 
the Board and Board committees. The ELT’s specific 
responsibilities, include:

(cid:129) (BlueScope Steel corporate strategy) developing 
and implementing the strategic direction of the 
BlueScope Steel Group; 

(cid:129) (business area strategies) reviewing and developing 

strategies for business areas; 

The Committee is composed entirely of independent 
Non-Executive Directors.

(cid:129) (safety) reviewing and developing safety strategy, 

high level processes and procedures; 

(cid:129) (capital expenditure) reviewing and endorsing all 

capital proposals over $5 million. The ELT recommends 
to the Board all capital proposals over $25 million; 

(cid:129) (human resources) reviewing and discussing human 

resource talent and succession and developing 
human resource strategies and practices; 

(cid:129) (policies and standards) discussing and endorsing 

major policies and standards that have been 
delegated to management by the Board in areas 
such as Human Resources, Information Technology, 
Risk Management and Finance; and 

(cid:129) (performance) reviewing Company and business unit 
financial performance and operational performance 
and agreeing any necessary actions. 

The members of the Executive Leadership Team are 
Kirby Adams (Managing Director and Chief Executive 
Officer), who is Chairman of the ELT, Lance Hockridge 
(President BlueScope Steel North America), Noel 
Cornish (President, Australian and New Zealand 
Industrial Markets), Mike Courtnall (President Asian 
Building and Manufacturing Markets), Kathryn Fagg 
(President Australian Building and Logistics Solutions), 
Gerard Hammond (Acting Chief Financial Officer), 
Brian Kruger (President Australian Manufacturing 
Markets) and Ian Cummin (Executive Vice President 
People and Performance). The ELT meets regularly 
and prior to all board meetings, generally at 
BlueScope Steel sites.

The members of the Committee are Ms Diane Grady 
(Committee Chairman), Mr Graham Kraehe, Mr Ron 
McNeilly and Mr Tan Yam Pin. All members of the 
Committee are independent Non-Executive Directors. 
The Committee is required to review its performance 
annually and the review is scheduled to take place 
later in the calendar year 2005. The Committee 
meets at least four scheduled times a year.

The Committee seeks advice and guidance, as 
appropriate, from the Managing Director and Chief 
Executive Officer, and the Executive Vice President 
People and Performance. It may also seek advice 
from external experts, including in the absence of 
management of BlueScope Steel.

Information on BlueScope Steel’s remuneration policies 
in respect of the costs and benefits of those policies 
and the link between remuneration paid to Directors 
and executives and Company performance is 
detailed in the Directors’ Report on pages 43 to 51.

Nomination Committee

The Nomination Committee is responsible for 
reviewing the membership of the Board and for 
consideration of candidates for membership of the 
Board. Mr Graham Kraehe chairs the Committee. All 
Non-Executive Directors are members. As the Board 
believes that the responsibilities of the Committee 
will be performed most effectively if all Non-Executive 
Directors are involved. Detailed work of the 
Committee may be delegated to a sub-committee.

The purpose of the Committee is to assist the Board 
to discharge its responsibilities for ensuring that the 
Board is comprised of individuals who are able to 
discharge the responsibilities of Directors having 
regard to the law and the highest standards of 
governance. The Committee achieves this purpose by:

PAGE 60

ACCOUNTABILITY AND AUDIT

External audit

Ernst & Young are BlueScope Steel’s external 
auditors.

The lead audit partner and the review partner 
of our external auditors rotate every five years. 
The current lead audit partner and review partner 
were first appointed for the 2001/02 and 2004/05 
audits of BlueScope Steel respectively.

Non-audit work is prohibited, where independence 
may be compromised or conflicts arise. The Board 
revised the policy for the use of the Company’s 
external auditor for non-audit services during 
the year. All non-audit services provided by the 
Company’s external auditor are to be approved by 
the Audit and Risk Committee who assess whether 
any independence issues or conflicts of interest 
arise prior to the engagement. The revised policy 
also requires Audit and Risk Committee approval for 
the employment of partners or senior engagement 
team staff by the company within two years of 
leaving the external audit firm.

Ernst & Young representatives have previously 
attended the Annual General Meetings of BlueScope 
Steel and were available to answer questions from 
shareholders as appropriate. For the 2005 Annual 
General Meeting, the lead auditor of BlueScope 
Steel or a suitable member from the audit team will 
attend, as is required by the Corporations Act as 
amended by the CLERP 9 Act. Further, shareholders 
now have the right to submit written questions to 
the auditors as specified under the Corporations 
Act, and the auditor may table answers to the 
questions at the AGM.

Internal control and risk management

The Board has overall responsibility for the 
BlueScope Steel Group’s systems of internal control. 
These systems are designed to ensure effective and 
efficient operations, including financial reporting 
and compliance with laws and regulations, with 
a view to managing the risk of failure to achieve 
business objectives.

The Board reviews the effectiveness of the 
internal control systems and risk management 
on an ongoing basis, and monitors risk through 
the Audit and Risk Committee (see the Audit and 
Risk Committee). The Board regularly receives 
information about the financial position and 
performance of BlueScope Steel.  

PricewaterhouseCoopers assists the Board by 
providing a comprehensive internal audit service.

CEO and CFO assurances

For annual and half-yearly accounts released 
publicly, the Managing Director and Chief Executive 
Officer and the Chief Financial Officer assure the 
Board that:

1.  The financial records of the BlueScope Steel Group 

have been properly maintained.

2.  The BlueScope Steel financial statements and notes 
required by the accounting standards, for external 
reporting:

(a) give a true and fair view of the financial position 

and performance; and

(b) comply with the accounting standards (and 

any further requirements in the Corporations 
Regulations), and applicable ASIC Class Orders.

3.  The above representations are based on a system 
of risk management and internal compliance 
and control relating to financial reporting which 
implements the financial reporting and risk 
management policies adopted by the Board, 
and that those systems are operating efficiently 
and effectively in all material respects.

Share ownership and dealing

Details of shares in BlueScope Steel Limited held 
by Directors are set out in the Directors‘ Report on 
page 42.

The Board has established a Securities Trading Policy 
covering dealings in BlueScope Steel’s shares. The 
objective of the Policy is to ensure that shareholders, 
customers and the business community have 
confidence that Directors and senior management 
comply with the law and best practice in corporate 
governance, and handle confidential information 
lawfully and with integrity.  The Policy highlights 
the restrictions imposed by Australian corporations 
legislation on trading in BlueScope Steel shares and 
other entities’ securities at a time when a person 
has non-public price sensitive information. 

Under the Policy, Directors and senior management 
are required to notify the Company Secretary and 
obtain clearance before dealing in BlueScope Steel 
Limited shares. Directors and senior management 
are prohibited from dealing in BlueScope Steel 
Limited shares outside designated trading windows.

Any dealings in BlueScope Steel’s shares by a 
Director are reported to the Board at its next 
meeting. The ASX is notified of any share dealings 
by a Director within five business days.

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DIRECTORS' REPORT

PAGE 61

Corporate social responsibility

BlueScope Steel is committed to meeting high 
standards of compliance with respect to its health, 
safety, environmental and community responsibilities, 
which are essential to the way in which the 
BlueScope Steel Group conducts its business.

Some of these important issues are the responsibility 
of the Health, Safety and Environment committee. 
However, BlueScope Steel views these matters as 
key issues, for which BlueScope Steel can have an 
impact in every aspect of its operations and interactions 
within the communities in which it operates.

The Health, Safety, Environmental and Community 
Policy addressing these issues can be found on 
BlueScope Steel’s website www.bluescopesteel.com.

BlueScope Steel Guide to Business Conduct 
(including whistleblower protection)

BlueScope Steel Limited has a Guide to Business 
Conduct, which provides an ethical and legal 
framework for all employees. The Guide defines how 
the BlueScope Steel Group relates to its customers, 
employees, shareholders and the community.

At the core of the Guide to Business Conduct is the 
desire to build trust between BlueScope Steel and 
these stakeholders, through the implementation of 
principles of legal compliance and proper process; 
fair competition; the application of industry best 
practice to the health, safety and well-being of 
BlueScope Steel’s employees; a focus on long-term 
benefits rather than short-term advantage for 
individuals; cooperation, driven by BlueScope 
Steel’s belief in people and teamwork; and respect 
for the diverse range of people and cultures.

The Guide to Business Conduct provides a common 
behavioural framework applicable to all BlueScope 
Steel’s employees, irrespective of their specific 
job, direct employer or location around the world. 
The Guide also applies to BlueScope Steel’s 
Non-Executive Directors.

As a means of improving its policies and practices 
regarding the detection and management of 
business misconduct, the Board has revised its 
policy on Fraud and Misappropriation, to cover 
guidelines on reporting and responding to all 
suspected business misconduct, including the 
protection for whistleblowers introduced into the 
Corporations Act by the CLERP 9 Act amendments. 
BlueScope Steel is in the process of implementing 
these guidelines throughout the organisation.

The revised guidelines set out mechanisms 
that employees can use to report suspected 
incidents of business misconduct, such as fraud, 
misappropriation and breach of legislative 
requirements. Reports of suspected business 
misconduct may be made directly to line managers, 
to BlueScope Steel’s Business Conduct Panel 
or a whistleblower hotline. Disclosures to the 
hotline may be made on a confidential basis. 
The Guidelines also detail how BlueScope Steel 
will respond to allegations of business misconduct, 
in particular, the protections that will be offered 
to employees who report suspected misconduct 
and give commitments about how the outcomes 
of investigations will be reported.  

Political contributions

BlueScope Steel does not contribute funds to any 
political party, politician, or candidate for public 
office. It may, however, incur costs for attendance 
at events hosted by a political party for briefing 
purposes or for the purpose of meeting and having 
dialogue with political figures and contributes to 
the public debate of policy issues that may affect 
it in the countries in which it operates.

PAGE 62

2005 CONCISE FINANCIAL REPORT

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2005

Revenue from ordinary activities 

Changes in inventories of finished goods and work in progress

Raw materials and consumables used

Employee benefits expense

Depreciation and amortisation expenses

Diminution in value of non-current assets

External services 

Freight on external despatches

Carrying amount of non-current assets sold

Other expenses from ordinary activities

Borrowing costs expense

Shares of net profits of associates and joint venture partnership accounted for using the equity method

Profit from ordinary activities before income tax expense

Income tax expense

Profit from ordinary activities after income tax expense

Net profit attributable to outside equity interest

Net profit attributable to members of  BlueScope Steel Limited

Net increase (decrease) in foreign currency translation reserve

Total revenue, expenses and valuation adjustments attributable to members of BlueScope Steel 
Limited recognised directly in equity

Total changes in equity other than those resulting from transactions with owners as owners

Basic earnings per share

The above consolidated statement of financial performance should be read in conjunction 
with the accompanying notes and discussion and analysis.

Notes

8

6

2005
$M

7,981.6

146.7

(3,296.8)

(1,347.0)

(306.1)

(1.6)

(1,093.0)

(484.3)

(9.9)

(394.7)

(37.5)

196.7

1,354.1

(347.0)

1,007.1

(0.1)

1,007.0

(56.7)

(56.7)

950.3

Cents
137.4

2004 
$M

5,769.6

1.7

(2,145.6)

(1,075.2)

(286.7)

(1.4)

(800.0)

(418.7)

(6.0)

(288.7)

(16.8)

71.2

803.4

(201.6)

601.8

(17.7)

584.1

12.7

12.7

596.8

Cents
77.8

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF 
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2005

PAGE 63

DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 
OF CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT 
OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

A breakdown of revenue and profit from ordinary 
activities before income tax by reporting segment 
is set out in note 2.

Key points to note on the profit from ordinary 
activities before income tax expense are:

(cid:129)  Building on the strong performance of previous years, 
the BlueScope Steel Group has achieved a record 
financial result, delivering a net profit of $1,007.0 
million and earnings per share of 137.4 cents.

(cid:129)  The Company’s revenue increased $2,212.0 million 
to $7,981.6 million, primarily achieved through 
acquisitions, improved prices, and a favourable 
shift in mix of despatches from export to domestic. 
These were partly offset by a reduction in the value 
of USD denominated sales, due to the strengthening 
of the Australian dollar. 

New Zealand and Pacific Steel Products

INCOME TAX

(cid:129)  The effective tax rate for the twelve months ended 
30 June 2005 was 25.6% (2004: 25.1%). The tax 
rate differs from the Australian tax rate of 30% 
primarily due to the utilisation of unbooked tax 
losses in New Zealand, together with the utilisation 
of tax exemptions in our Thailand Coating operation. 
These were partly offset by North Star BlueScope 
Steel being taxed at approximately 40% 
(US 35% tax rate plus state taxes). 

(cid:129)  The earnings contribution from the New Zealand and 
Pacific Steel Products segment increased as a result 
of domestic and export price increases, higher prices 
for vanadium slag (a steel making by-product) and 
continuing strong New Zealand domestic 
sales volumes.

Coated and Building Products Australia

(cid:129)  The earnings contribution from the Coated 

and Building Products Australia segment was 
significantly affected by higher hot rolled coil and 
slab feed costs (from Hot Rolled Products), which 
compressed margins despite price increases in both 
domestic and export markets. Earnings were also 
affected by industrial action at the Western Port 
facility, an increase in repairs and maintenance and 
restructuring costs associated with the withdrawal 
from export tinplate. These were partly offset by 
a favourable shift in mix of despatches from export 
to domestic. 

(cid:129)  Net profit after tax increased $422.9 million to a 

Coated and Building Products Asia

record $1,007.0 million. This improvement was due 
primarily to higher international and domestic steel 
prices, improved margins from North Star BlueScope 
Steel and a favourable shift in mix of despatches 
from export to domestic. These were partly offset 
by higher raw material and operating costs, higher 
planned repairs and maintenance to improved 
operating stability, higher business development costs 
and the net impact of a higher AUD/USD exchange 
rate on USD denominated revenues and costs. 

Hot Rolled Products

(cid:129)  The earnings contribution from the Coated and 

Building Products Asia segment was lower primarily 
due to an increase in business development and 
pre-production costs associated with developments 
in Vietnam, Thailand, India and China, together with 
operating cost increases. These were partly offset 
by sales volume increases as a result of market 
growth initiatives and the integration of BlueScope 
Butler China. The segment maintained gross 
margins despite significant increases in steel 
feed and coating metal costs.

(cid:129)  The earnings contribution from the Hot Rolled 

Coated and Building Products North America

Products segment increased as a result of stronger 
hot rolled coil and slab pricing (to export, domestic 
and inter-segment customers), and a substantial 
increase in margins from North Star BlueScope Steel. 
These were partly offset by higher scrap, coking coal, 
iron ore, alloys and freight costs, together with an 
increase in repairs and maintenance expenditure 
to ensure reliability of operations which underpins 
increased production capacity together with the 
optimisation of asset lives.

(cid:129)  Butler Manufacturing Company, a leading 

manufacturer of pre-engineered buildings, was 
acquired in April 2004, bringing a new suite 
of building and construction products to the  
Company. This new segment delivered negative 
earnings for the year. However, when compared 
with comparative period earnings normalised for 
discontinued operations and acquisition related 
costs, earnings improved $8 million. This improvement 
was achieved primarily through higher margins but 
was negatively affected by costs associated with 
the early closure of the Galesburg, Illinois plant 
and start up costs of the replacement plant at 
Jackson, Tennessee. 

PAGE 64

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
AS AT 30 JUNE 2005

Notes

Current assets

Cash assets

Receivables

Inventories

Other

Total current assets

Non-current assets

Receivables

Inventories

Investments accounted for using the equity method

Other financial assets

Property, plant and equipment

Deferred tax assets

Intangible assets

Other

Total non-current assets

Total assets

Current liabilities

Payables

Interest bearing liabilities

Current tax liabilities

Provisions

Other

Total current liabilities

Non-current liabilities

Payables

Interest bearing liabilities

Deferred tax liabilities

Provisions

Total non-current liabilities

Total liabilities

Net assets

Equity

Parent entity interest

Contributed equity

Reserves

Retained profits

Total parent entity interest

Outside equity interest in controlled entities

Total equity

7

8

2005
$M

84.6

1,052.8

1,152.2

39.5

2,329.1

7.4

58.6

253.5

4.6

3,629.0

61.6

112.4

7.5

4,134.6

6,463.7

818.6

255.7

215.6

263.0

60.5

1,613.4

5.0

620.2

351.9

372.7

1,349.8

2,963.2

3,500.5

1,747.5

(131.2)

1,841.0

3,457.3

43.2

3,500.5

2004 
$M

119.4

989.2

891.4

43.7

2,043.7

7.1

71.1

236.3

4.6

3,288.6

58.0

60.1

12.6

3,738.4

5,782.1

728.3

416.0

154.3

294.7

92.5

1,685.8

–

176.7

388.3

337.7

902.7

2,588.5

3,193.6

1,914.9

(77.5)

1,302.9

3,140.3

53.3

3,193.6

The above consolidated statement of financial position should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes and discussion and analysis.

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF 
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
AS AT 30 JUNE 2005

PAGE 65

DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 
OF CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT 
OF FINANCIAL POSITION

Key notes on balance sheet movements are 
as follows:

ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

(cid:129)  An increase in receivables due mainly to higher 

sales prices.

(cid:129)  An increase in inventories due to higher raw 

material costs and timing of raw material receipts 
and export shipments.

(cid:129)  An increase in property, plant and equipment due to 

expenditure on new coating line facilities in Vietnam, 
China and a second metal coating line in Thailand 
and the Hot Strip Mill upgrade at Port Kembla.

(cid:129)  An increase in intangible assets arising from 

Lysaght Australia and BlueScope Water business 
acquisitions.

(cid:129)  An increase in payables due to higher capital 
expenditure and an increase in raw material, 
freight and other costs.

(cid:129)  An increase in provision for income tax in line 

with increased earnings, mainly from Australian 
operations.

EQUITY

(cid:129)  During April 2005, the company completed an 

off-market share buy-back of 25,856,197 shares, 
representing 3.5% of its issued share capital. The 
shares were bought back at $7.75 per share for a 
total cost of $202 million (includes $2 million of 
transaction costs). The price of $7.75 represented 
a 9% discount to the volume weighted average of 
BlueScope Steel Limited shares over the five days 
up to and including the closing date of the buyback.

(cid:129)  Shares bought back on-market totalled $125 million 

(15,880,095 shares).

(cid:129)  $37 million of share proceeds from the exercise 

of share rights issued in July 2002 under the senior 
manager long term incentive plan.

(cid:129)  A decrease in the exchange fluctuation reserve 

due to the impact of the strengthening of the AUD 
on foreign operations.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEBT 
AND EQUITY

(cid:129)  The current gearing ratio, calculated as net debt 

over net debt plus equity, is 18.4% (2004: 12.9%).   

(cid:129)  On 1 July 2004, the Company completed a debut 
debt raising in the US private placement market 
totalling USD300 million with terms of 7 years 
(USD100 million) and 10 years (USD200 million).

PAGE 66

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2005

Cash flows from operating activities

Receipts from customers

Payments to suppliers and employees

Dividends received

Interest received

Other revenue

Borrowing costs

Income taxes paid

Net cash inflow (outflow) from operating activities

Cash flows from investing activities

Payments for purchase of controlled entities, net of cash acquired

Payments for property, plant and equipment

Payments for investments

Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment

Proceeds from sale or redemption of investments

Net associate loan receivable repaid (advanced)

Net cash inflow (outflow) from investing activities

Cash flows from financing activities

Proceeds from issues of shares

Share buyback

Employee share plan

Proceeds from other borrowings

Proceeds from finance leases

Repayment of borrowings

Repayment of finance leases

Dividends paid

Dividends paid to outside equity interests in controlled entities

Net cash inflow (outflow) from financing activities

Net increase (decrease) in cash held

Cash at the beginning of the financial year

Effects of exchange rate changes on cash

Cash at the end of the financial year

Notes

5

2005
$M

8,243.9

(7,166.0)

1,077.9

125.4

3.7

21.0

(26.9)

(312.1)

889.0

(17.8)

(600.0)

(45.2)

12.8

–

28.5

(621.7)

36.9

(327.0)

–

2,893.9

0.6

(2,541.0)

(4.5)

(343.0)

(5.2)

(289.3)

(22.0)

118.1

(13.1)

83.0

2004 
$M

5,948.3

(5,099.9)

848.4

1.0

2.6

43.3

(15.8)

(119.4)

760.1

(290.0)

(289.1)

(5.5)

11.8

6.5

(11.2)

(577.5)

–

(259.4)

(9.2)

3,469.5

–

(3,114.0)

(0.3)

(241.6)

(3.0)

(158.0)

24.6

91.0

2.5

118.1

The above consolidated statement of cash flows should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes and discussion and analysis.

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF 
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2005

PAGE 67

DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 
OF CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT 
OF CASH FLOWS

CASH FLOWS FROOM OPERATING 
ACTIVITIES

The increase in net operating cash flows reflects 
an increase in operating cash profits partly offset 
by an increase in net working capital. The increase 
in net working capital primarily reflects:

(cid:129)  An increase in inventory due to higher raw material 
costs and the timing of raw material receipts and 
export shipments.

(cid:129)  An increase in receivables mainly due to higher prices.

(cid:129)  Partially offset by higher operating payables due 
to increased raw material, freight and other costs.

  Other major movements in operating activities are:

(cid:129)  Dividend payments of $123 million received from 

North Star BlueScope Steel.

(cid:129)  Income tax payments were $193 million higher 
primarily due to increased profits earned from 
Australian operations. Tax losses and other 
tax exemptions exist in our New Zealand and 
Asian operations.

CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING 
ACTIVITIES

Major movements in investing cash flows are 
as follows:

(cid:129)  The prior year cash flow included $278 million 
for the acquisition of the Butler Manufacturing 
Company.

(cid:129)  Payments for property, plant and equipment has 

increased by $311 million due mainly to expenditure 
on new coating line facilities in Vietnam and China, 
a second metal coating line in Thailand and the 
Hot Strip Mill upgrade at Port Kembla.

(cid:129)  Lysaght Australia and BlueScope Water business 

acquisitions.

(cid:129)  A loan to North Star BlueScope Steel was fully 

repaid during the year.

CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING 
ACTIVITIES

Major financing cash flows are as follows:

(cid:129)  The payment of $343 million in dividends 

(2004: $242 million). This amount includes $75 million 
(2004: $53.8 million) in special dividend payments.

(cid:129)  $327 million of shares bought back 

(2004: $259 million).

(cid:129)  $37 million of share proceeds from the exercise 

of share rights issued in July 2002 under the senior 
manager long term incentive plan.

(cid:129)  The company borrowed an additional $349 million 

of debt. 

PAGE 68

NOTE 1     
BASIS OF PREPARATION OF THE CONCISE FINANCIAL REPORT

The concise financial report has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Corporations Act 2001 and Accounting Standard AASB 1039 “Concise Financial Reports”.

The concise financial report relates to the consolidated entity incorporating the assets and liabilities of all entities controlled by BlueScope Steel Limited as at 30 June 2005 
and the results of all controlled entities for the year then ended. The accounting policies adopted are consistent with those of the previous year.

ROUNDING OF AMOUNTS

The company is of a kind referred to in Class Order 98/0100, issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, relating to the rounding off of amounts 
in financial reports. Amounts in the concise financial report have been rounded off in accordance with that Class Order to the nearest hundred thousand dollars.

NOTE 2
AUSTRALIAN EQUIVALENTS TO INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS (AIFRS)

The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) is adopting Australian equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards (AIFRS) for application to reporting 
periods beginning on or after 1 January 2005. The adoption of AIFRS will be first reflected in the consolidated entity’s financial statements for the half-year ending 
31 December 2005 and the year ending 30 June 2006.

Entities complying with AIFRS for the first time are required to restate their comparative financial statements to reflect the application of AIFRS. The majority of AIFRS 
transition adjustments will be made retrospectively against opening retained earnings at 1 July 2004.

BlueScope Steel Limited is well advanced in transitioning its accounting policies, systems and financial reporting from current Australian accounting standards.

Set out below are the key areas where accounting policies are expected to change on adoption of AIFRS and our best estimate of the quantitative impact on the changes on 
total equity as at the date of transition and 30 June 2005 and on net profit for the year ended 30 June 2005. The amounts disclosed are the company’s best estimates as at 
the date of preparing the year-end financial report. These figures could change due to potential amendments to, and interpretations of, current AIFRS by the standard setters 
together with ongoing work undertaken by the company’s AIFRS project team.

(a) RECONCILIATION OF EQUITY AS PRESENTED UNDER AGAAP TO THAT UNDER AIFRS

(b) RECONCILIATION OF NET PROFIT AS 
PRESENTED UNDER AGAAP TO THAT UNDER AIFRS

     Consolidated

Notes

 As at 
30 Jun 2005
$M

As at 
1 Jul 2004
$M

Total equity under AGAAP

3,500.5

3,193.6

Adjustments to retained earnings (net of tax)

Defined benefit superannuation

Impairment of assets

Income tax methodology

Foreign currency translation

Business combinations

Share based payments

Equity accounting

Opening exchange fluctuation reserve

Adjustments to other reserves (net of tax)

Share based payments

Opening exchange fluctuation reserve

Total equity under AIFRS

Estimated change $m

Estimated change %

(i)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

(v)

(vi)

(vii)

(viii)

(vi)

(viii)

(193.2)

(125.7)

86.3

(12.6)

5.0

(9.0)

(0.1)

(77.5)

9.0

77.5

3,260.2

(240.3)

(6.9%)

(130.5)

(71.6)

80.6

–

–

(2.6)

0.7

(77.5)

2.6

77.5

3,072.8

(120.8)

(3.8%)

Notes

(i)

(ii)

(iv)

(v)

(vi)

(vii)

Consolidated

Year ended
30 Jun 2005
$M

1,354.1

19.8

(77.2)

22.0

4.9

(6.4)

(0.9)

1,316.3

(347.0)

12.7

982.0

1,007.1

(25.1)

(2.5%)

Net profit as reported 
under AGAAP

Defined benefit superannuation

Impairment of assets

Foreign currency translation

Business combinations

Share based payments

Equity accounting

Net profit before tax under AIFRS

Income tax (expense)/benefit – AGAAP

Income tax (expense)/benefit 
– AIFRS Adjustment

Net profit after tax under AIFRS

Net profit after tax under AGAAP

Estimated change to net profit 
after tax $m

Estimated change to net profit 
after tax %

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED 
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 30 JUNE 2005

PAGE 69

The increase in the liability from July 2004 is 
primarily due to a reduction in corporate bond 
interest rates in New Zealand and North America. 

The AIFRS balance sheet asset and liability to be 
recognised under AASB 119 for the Australian and 
New Zealand defined benefit superannuation fund 
positions differs from the information disclosed in 
Note 38 to the full financial report due to: 

(cid:129)  AASB 119 requiring the fund surplus or deficit 

to be grossed up for employer contributions tax 
(Australia 15%, New Zealand 33%); and

(cid:129)  the accrued benefits liability is to be discounted 

using a corporate bond rate with terms to maturity 
that match, as closely as possible, the estimated 
future cash outflows.

Under current AGAAP, the accrued benefits liability 
is not grossed up for employer contribution tax and 
is discounted using the expected return on the fund 
assets, which is typically a higher rate than the 
corporate bond rate.

In December 2004, AASB 119 was reissued to 
provide options in accounting for actuarial gains 
and losses by allowing either a direct adjustment 
against retained earnings, a progressive profit and 
loss ‘corridor’ approach or immediate recognition 
in the profit and loss. The company intends to early 
adopt the revised standard to enable actuarial gains 
and losses to be taken directly to retained earnings. 
The post tax amount to be taken to retained 
earnings as an actuarial loss at 30 June 2005 
is $80.2M (pre tax $92.9M).

The company will recognise a $19.8M lower 
employment cost in the year ended June 2005 
under AIFRS as current company contributions 
are in excess of the actuarial determined expense. 
This benefit is split between Hot Rolled Products 
$6.7M, Coated and Building Products Australia 
$5.1M, Corporate and Group $1.2M and 
New Zealand and Pacific Steel Products $6.8M.

(ii) Impairment of assets

AASB 136 Impairment of Assets determines the 
recoverable amount of cash generating units by 
assessing the higher of fair value less costs to sell 
and value in use. In determining value in use, future 
cash flows are discounted using a risk adjusted 
pre-tax discount rate. Cash generating units (CGUs) 
are described as the smallest group of assets that 
generate cash flows from continuing use that are 
largely independent.

BlueScope Steel currently assesses the recoverable 
value of income generating units (IGUs) using 
future cash flows discounted at a pre-tax company-
wide discount rate. IGUs are defined as a group of 
assets working together to generate cash flows.

The CGU approach requires certain assets to be 
assessed for recoverability on a standalone basis 
rather than being grouped into an IGU with the 
discount rate including a country risk premium. 
Both of these differences increase the possibility 
of certain BlueScope Steel assets being impaired.

The company has defined its CGUs, reassessed its 
impairment testing policy and tested all assets for 
impairment as at transition date and at 30 June 2005. 
This assessment has necessitated a $102.3M 
($71.6M net of tax) impairment write-down for 
the Packaging Products CGU at 1 July 2004 and an 
additional $82.3M ($57.6M net of tax) write-down 
at 30 June 2005. The Packaging Products operational 
assets will have been written down to nil value 
at 30 June 2005 under AIFRS.

As a result of the 1 July 2004 write-down, 
depreciation expense will be $5.1M lower for 
the year ended 30 June 2005.  

Under AGAAP, Packaging Products is grouped 
with other Australian steel manufacturing assets 
(Port Kembla Steelworks, Springhill and Western 
Port operations), which was treated as an IGU, 
and therefore Packaging Products was not tested 
for impairment on a standalone basis. Packaging 
Products is impaired on a standalone basis primarily 
as a result of low growth and margin compression 
since the facility was upgraded in the 1990’s and 
further impaired at 30 June 2005 due to increases 
in unit costs following the withdrawal from export 
tinplate. The company continues to operate these 
assets and is investigating ways of improving 
their profitability. 

The reduction in property plant and equipment will 
be attributable to the Coated and Building Products 
Australia reporting segment.

(i) Defined benefit superannuation

Under AASB 119 Employee Benefits, employer sponsors 
are required to recognise the net surplus or deficit in 
employer sponsored defined benefit superannuation 
funds as an asset or liability. This asset or liability is 
measured as the present value of the defined benefit 
obligation at the reporting date plus unrecognised 
actuarial losses (less unrecognised actuarial gains) 
less the fair value of the superannuation fund’s assets 
at that date. The present value of the defined benefit 
obligation is based on expected future payments 
which arise from membership of the fund to the 
reporting date, calculated annually by independent 
actuaries. Consideration is given to expected future 
wage and salary levels, experience of employee 
departures and periods of service.

The requirements of AASB 119 change the group’s 
current accounting policy whereby a liability is only 
recognised where a legal obligation exists and the 
defined benefit superannuation expense matches 
the company contribution. Under AASB 119, the 
defined benefit superannuation expense is actuarially 
determined and includes current service cost, 
interest cost, and plan expenses offset by employee 
contributions and the expected return on fund assets. 
This expense is grossed up for any contributions tax 
payable (Australia 15%, New Zealand 33%). 

At 30 June 2005, an actuarially determined liability 
is to be recorded for the deficit in the New Zealand 
defined benefit superannuation fund and a small asset 
for the Australian defined benefit superannuation fund. 
Due to existing legal obligations arising from defined 
benefit funds in the Coated and Building Products 
North America Group a liability for the defined benefit 
shortfall was taken up under AGAAP. However, an 
additional liability is required to be recognised due 
to the requirements of AASB 119 to discount the 
accrued benefit liability using the corporate bond 
rate (or equivalent) which is lower than the expected 
return on the fund’s assets.

Actuarial valuations have been undertaken for each 
defined benefit superannuation fund in the Group. 
A breakdown of the AASB 119 adjustment for the 
surplus and shortfalls of the Group’s funds, including 
the associated tax adjustment, is as follows:

Consolidated

30 June 2005
$M

1 Jul 2004
$M

0.5

(168.7)

(40.2)

15.2

(14.3)

(116.6)

(6.3)

6.7

Australia entities

New Zealand Steel

Coated and Building 
Products North America

Deferred tax asset/
liability

Net adjustment

(193.2)

(130.5)

PAGE 70

(iii) Income tax methodology

(v) Business combinations

(vii) Equity accounting

Under AASB 128 Investments in Associates, 
where an investor holds 20% or more of the 
voting power of the investee, it is presumed that 
the investor has significant influence, unless it 
can be clearly demonstrated that this is not the 
case. The company holds some minor investments 
in New Zealand Steel whereby equity accounting 
was not applied with revenue being brought to 
account when dividends were received. 

(viii) Exchange fluctuation reserve

AASB 121 The Effects of Changes In Foreign 
Exchange Rates introduces a new requirement 
where upon disposal of a foreign operation 
the cumulative translation difference for that 
operation must be taken to the income statement 
as part of the gain or loss on disposal. Under 
current Australian Accounting Standards, the 
cumulative translation difference pertaining to 
the operation disposed would be transferred 
directly to retained earnings without impacting 
the income statement.

In accordance with AASB 1, the company has 
elected to restate the exchange fluctuation 
reserve to nil on transition to AIFRS. In adopting 
this exemption the 1 July 2004 opening exchange 
fluctuation reserve balance will be transferred 
directly to opening retained earnings.

(c) RESTATED AIFRS STATEMENT OF 
CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 
30 JUNE 2005

No material impacts are expected to the cash 
flows presented under AGAAP on adoption 
of AIFRS.

AASB 112 Income Taxes requires all tax assets to 
be recognised if they are probable of realisation. 
Probable is defined as more likely than not. Under 
current Australian accounting standards income tax 
losses can only recognised if they are considered to 
be virtually certain of realisation. The company has 
reassessed its accounting policy for the recognition 
of tax assets in accordance with AASB 112 and 
recognised an additional tax benefit of $87.5M in 
the opening AIFRS balance sheet at 1 July 2004 
(30 June 2005 $86.3M). As a result of booking this 
additional benefit, the company expects to commence 
recognising a tax expense on New Zealand Steel’s 
profit during the second half of FY 2006. 

A further change arising from implementing 
AASB 112 is the requirement to use the balance 
sheet liability method and to tax effect fair value 
adjustments arising from business combinations 
(refer point (v)). The balance sheet approach 
focuses on the taxation of transactions and other 
events that affect amounts recognised in either 
the Balance Sheet or a tax-based balance sheet. 

As tax assets are not allocated to reporting 
segments in accordance with AASB 114 Segment 
Reporting this adjustment will not impact our 
individual reporting segments. 

(iv) Foreign currency translation

AASB 121 Effect of Changes in Foreign Exchange 
Rates requires exchange gains and losses arising 
from loan balances, including  intercompany 
balances, to remain in the consolidated income 
statement unless they form part of a net investment 
in a foreign operation. If these tests are met, the 
exchange fluctuation is able to be reported in 
a separate component of equity and would be 
realised upon disposal of the foreign operation.

The company’s foreign currency loans, including 
intercompany loans, not denominated in the 
functional currency of the business do not currently 
meet the tests required under AASB 121 for a 
hedge of a net investment of a foreign operation 
resulting in exchange fluctuations on loan balances 
being taken to the income statement. Under 
AGAAP these items have been recorded against 
the exchange fluctuation reserve.

Management has undertaken a thorough review 
of the future impact on the income statement 
from foreign currency exposures arising from the 
changes identified above. Future foreign currency 
exposure is to be managed through balancing 
foreign exchange debt with foreign exchange 
intercompany balances and no material earnings 
volatility is expected.

The profit and loss impact arising from exchange 
rate fluctuations on loan balances is to be allocated 
to the Corporate and Group reporting segment.   

Under AASB 3 Business Combinations, goodwill 
will no longer be amortised but instead be subject 
to annual impairment testing. This has resulted 
in a change in the group’s accounting policy that 
currently amortises goodwill over its useful life 
not exceeding 20 years. Impairment testing as at 
1 July 2004 and 30 June 2005 have confirmed no 
impairment of goodwill. 

The company has elected to apply the exemption 
under AASB 1 First-time Adoption of Australian 
Equivalents to International Financial Reporting 
Standards to not restate pre 1 July 2004 business 
combinations in accordance with AASB 3. 
AASB 3 applies more stringent tests in identifying 
acquired intangible assets than current Australian 
accounting standards. This will result in a lower 
goodwill number being recorded on post 1 July 
2004 acquisitions. AASB 136 Intangible Assets 
requires intangible assets that do not have indefinite 
lives to be amortised over their useful life. 

Consistent with AASB 112 Income Taxes, business 
combinations post 1 July 2004 are required to 
incorporate the tax effect of fair value adjustments. 
This impacts the amount of goodwill recognised.

(vi) Share based payments

Under AASB 2 Share-based Payment, the company 
is required to expense the fair value of share rights 
and awards granted to employees as remuneration 
over the expected vesting period. This standard 
applies to all share rights and awards issued 
after 7 November 2002 which have not vested 
as at 1 January 2005. BlueScope Steel issues 
share rights to senior executives in the organisation 
as part of its remuneration strategy which focuses 
on performance, accountability and aligning 
performance-related reward with the value 
delivered to shareholders.

AASB 2 requires the fair value of the share rights 
granted to executives in September 2003 and 
September 2004, and any subsequent grants, 
to be expensed over the expected vesting period 
with a corresponding increase in an equity reserve. 
No tax deduction is allowed for the amount 
expensed. The fair values and other details on 
share rights granted by BlueScope Steel are 
disclosed in the Remuneration Report.

A minor component of the September 2003 and 
September 2004 Employee Share Ownership 
Program (ESOP) requires BlueScope Steel shares 
to be issued to employees in certain countries 
three years from the grant date. The fair value 
of the future share issue is required to be 
expensed over the remaining vesting period 
with a corresponding increase in an equity reserve. 
Future share ownership programs will require 
the fair value granted to be expensed to the profit 
and loss over the vesting period. Under current 
Australian accounting standards, the shares 
would have been issued at nil cost and no 
expense recognised.

 
BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED 
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 30 JUNE 2005

PAGE 71

Coated and Building Products Asia

Coated and Building Products Asia manufactures 
and distributes a range of metallic coated and 
painted steel products primarily to the building 
and construction industry and to some sections 
of the manufacturing industry across Asia.

On 27 April 2004, BlueScope Steel Limited acquired 
the Butler Manufacturing Company, which includes 
BlueScope Butler China, a business which designs, 
manufacturers and markets pre-engineered steel 
building systems and components across China. 
In addition, Vistawall has operations in China which 
manufacture and sell extruded aluminium and glass 
products for the building and construction sector.

Coated and Building Products North America

On 27 April 2004, BlueScope Steel Limited acquired 
Butler Manufacturing Company, a leading designer 
and manufacturer of pre-engineered steel building 
systems for the non-residential market with operations 
in North America and China. This segment includes 
the North American operations and has two 
main divisions: the North American Buildings 
Group, which designs, manufactures and markets 
pre-engineered steel buildings and component 
systems; and Vistawall, which manufactures and 
sells extruded aluminium and glass products for the 
building and construction sector. 

Corporate and Group 

Corporate and Group relates primarily to logistics 
and corporate activities

Intersegment pricing and segment 
accounting policies

Intersegment sales are made on a commercial 
arms-length basis. Segment accounting policies 
are the same as the consolidated entity’s policies 
outlined in the full financial report.

(d) OTHER IMPACTS FROM ADOPTION 
OF AIFRS

(i) Hedge accounting

AASB 139 Financial Instruments: Recognition 
and Measurement states that in order to achieve 
a qualifying hedge, the company is required to 
meet the following criteria:

-  Identify the type of hedge;

-  Identify the hedged item or transaction;

NOTE 3
SEGMENT INFORMATION
BUSINESS SEGMENTS

The consolidated entity has five business reporting 
segments: Hot Rolled Products, Coated and Building 
Products Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Steel 
Products (formerly New Zealand Steel), Coated and 
Building Products Asia and Coated and Building 
Products North America.

-  Identify the nature of the risk being hedged;

Hot Rolled Products

-  Identify the hedging instrument;

-  Demonstrate that the hedge has and will continue 

to be effective; and 

-   Document the hedging relationship.

The accounting principles outlined in AASB 139 do 
not require retrospective application as management 
have elected to apply the exemption in AASB 1 
and will therefore apply from 1 July 2005. The 
project team is in the process of determining the 
impact that adopting the standard would have on 
the financial statements of the Group. The impact 
of this standard is not expected to have a material 
impact on the financial statements of the Group 
given the low level of hedging activity undertaken.

(ii) Sale of receivables program

AASB 139 Financial Instruments: Recognition 
and Measurement only allows financial assets 
to be derecognised where an entity transfers 
substantially all the risks and rewards of 
ownership of the financial asset. The Group’s sale 
of receivables program does not currently meet 
the derecognition requirements. As a result, the 
program will be recorded separately as a liability 
rather than an offset against receivables and the 
expense of running the program will be shown as 
an interest cost rather than an operating expense.

As a result of the exemption to be applied in AASB 1, 
these requirements will be implemented from 1 July 
2005. If the principles were applied to the 30 June 
2005 balance sheet, current receivables would have 
increased by $140 million with a corresponding 
increase in current interest bearing liabilties.

(iii) Non-operating software

AASB 138 Intangible Assets requires computer 
software that is not an integral part of computer 
hardware or is not integral to the operation of a 
piece of machinery to be classified as an intangible 
asset. BlueScope Steel currently discloses all 
capitalised computer software as property, plant 
and equipment. 

A reclassification of non-operating software will 
reduce the net tangible assets of the company 
with a corresponding increase in intangible assets. 
The 30 June 2005 net book value of software to be 
classified as an intangible asset is approximately 
$75 million.

Hot Rolled Products includes the Port Kembla 
Steelworks, a steel making operation with an 
annual production capacity of approximately 
5.1 million tonnes of crude steel. The Port Kembla 
Steelworks manufactures and distributes slab, 
hot rolled coil and plate. Slab and hot rolled coil is 
supplied to Coated and Building Products Australia 
for further processing, as well as to other domestic 
and export customers. 

The segment also includes a 50% interest in 
the North Star BlueScope Steel joint venture, 
a steel mini-mill in the United States, and a 
47.5% shareholding in Castrip LLC.

New Zealand and Pacific Steel Products 
(formerly New Zealand Steel)

The New Zealand Steel operation at Glenbrook, 
New Zealand, produces a full range of flat steel 
products for both domestic and export markets. 
It has an annual production capacity of 
0.6 million tonnes.

This segment also includes facilities in 
New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu which 
manufacture and distribute the Lysaght range 
of products.

Coated and Building Products Australia

Coated and Building Products Australia markets 
a range of products and material solutions to the 
Australian building and construction industry and 
is also a key supplier to the Australian automotive 
sector, major white goods manufacturers and 
general manufacturers. Coated and Building 
Products Australia is a leader in metallic coating 
and painting technologies supplying a wide range 
of branded products such as COLORBOND® 
pre-painted steel, ZINCALUME® zinc/aluminium 
alloy-coated steel and the LYSAGHT® range 
of building products. The Coated and Building 
Products business comprises two main metallic 
coating production facilities at Springhill in 
New South Wales and Western Port in Victoria 
together with a network of manufacturing and 
distribution facilities throughout Australia. 

The segment also includes Packaging Products, 
an operation producing tinplate in Australia 
which is used by the packaging industry in 
applications for food, beverages, paint, oil 
and other steel packaging.

 
PAGE 72

NOTE 3 SEGMENT INFORMATION
PRIMARY REPORTING – BUSINESS SEGMENTS

Corporate and 
Group

Consolidated

Hot Rolled 
Products (1)

New Zealand 
and Pacific 
Steel Products

$M

2,112.7

1,826.8

3,939.5

1.9

1.9

3,941.4

1,338.5

$M

615.5

140.9

756.4

9.0

9.0

765.4

182.8

Coated and 
Building 
Products 
Australia
$M

2,984.9

205.4

Coated and 
Building 
Products Asia

$M

999.3

52.0

3,190.3

1,051.3

2.0

2.0

3,192.3

(115.7)

3.1

3.1

1,054.4

81.8

Coated and 
Building 
Products North 
America
$M

1,132.1

2.3

1,134.4

22.5

22.5

1,156.9

(19.7)

$M

96.2

263.7

359.9

5.4

5.4

365.3

(70.2)

1,338.5

182.8

(115.7)

81.8

(19.7)

(70.2)

2,593.9

578.7

1,917.7

1,167.6

472.2

47.3

564.1

104.3

490.4

289.4

238.0

58.1

2005

Sales to external customers

Intersegment sales

Intersegment elimination

Total sales revenue

Other revenue

Intersegment elimination

Total other revenue

Total segment revenue

Segment result

Intersegment elimination

Total segment result

Unallocated revenue less unallocated expenses

Profit from ordinary activities before 
income tax expense

Income tax expense

Net profit

Segment assets

Unallocated assets (2)

Intersegment elimination 

Total assets

Segment liabilities

Unallocated liabilities (2)

Intersegment elimination

Total liabilities

Investments in associates and joint venture 
partnership

Acquisition of property, plant and equipment, 
intangibles and other non-current segment assets

Depreciation and amortisation expense

Other non-cash expenses

246.9

140.1

131.7

1.0

–

36.8

28.2

1.3

–

175.2

98.7

3.9

1.9

342.9

25.2

0.9

4.7

50.5

20.4

2.9

–

1.7

1.9

–

(1)  The Hot Rolled Products segment results includes $194 million share of net profits of joint venture partnership. 
(2)  External borrowings, sale of receivables program, cash and tax balances are classified as unallocated.

$M

7,940.7

2,491.1

(2,491.1)

7,940.7

43.9

(3.0)

40.9

7,981.6

1,397.5

(9.1)

1,388.4

(34.3)

1,354.1

(347.0)

1,007.1

6,777.4

48.8

(362.5)

6,463.7

1,744.3

1,496.2

(277.3)

2,963.2

253.5

747.2

306.1

10.0

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED 
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 30 JUNE 2005

PAGE 73

NOTE 3 SEGMENT INFORMATION
PRIMARY REPORTING – BUSINESS SEGMENTS CONTINUED

Corporate and 
Group

Consolidated

Hot Rolled 
Products (2)

New Zealand 
and Pacific 
Steel Products

$M

1,517.3

1,321.3

2,838.6

4.7

4.7

2,843.3

563.8

$M

514.7

75.5

590.2

1.6

1.6

591.8

62.1

Coated and 
Building 
Products 
Australia
$M

2,742.3

141.2

2,883.5

3.2

3.2

2,886.7

192.9

Coated and 
Building 
Products Asia

$M

663.8

34.8

698.6

11.5

11.5

710.1

104.0

Coated and 
Building 
Products North 
America
$M

191.1

0.4

191.5

2.0

2.0

193.5

(8.8)

$M

108.9

264.0

372.9

9.2

9.2

382.1

(64.0)

563.8

62.1

192.9

104.0

(8.8)

(64.0)

2,382.6

538.7

1,684.0

813.2

518.9

45.1

524.1

97.7

428.7

204.0

286.9

70.7

2004 (1)

Sales to external customers

Intersegment sales

Intersegment elimination

Total sales revenue

Other revenue

Intersegment elimination

Total other revenue

Total segment revenue

Segment result

Intersegment elimination

Total segment result

Unallocated revenue less unallocated 
expenses

Profit from ordinary activities before income 
tax expense

Income tax expense

Net profit

Segment assets 

Unallocated assets (3)

Intersegment elimination

Total assets

Segment liabilities

Unallocated liabilities (3)

Intersegment elimination

Total liabilities

Investments in associates and joint venture 
partnership

Acquisition of property, plant and equipment, 
intangibles and other non-current segment 
assets (4)

Depreciation and amortisation expense

Other non-cash expenses

232.1

–

–

–

4.2

64.9

127.9

(0.5)

27.9

36.1

(0.6)

101.3

93.6

1.6

162.9

21.9

0.8

176.0

3.6

0.2

–

3.5

3.6

–

(1)  Minor changes have been made to the comparative period results reported in the 30 June 2004 concise financial report. 

These changes relate to the reorganisation of Lysaght Pacific and International Trading activities to align with current management responsibilities. 

(2)  The Hot Rolled Products segment result includes $71.1 million share of net profits of joint venture partnership.
(3)  External borrowings, sale of receivables program, cash and tax balances are classified as unallocated.
(4)  Includes property, plant and equipment acquired on 27 April 2004 from the purchase of the Butler Manufacturing for $186.1million. 

This is reflected in the Coated and Building Products North America and Asia segments.

$M

5,738.1

1,837.2

(1,837.2)

5,738.1

32.2

(0.7)

31.5

5,769.6

850.0

(32.1)

817.9

(14.5)

803.4

(201.6)

601.8

5,982.5

124.7

(325.1)

5,782.1

1,612.1

1,225.6

(249.2)

2,588.5

236.3

536.5

286.7

1.5

 
 
PAGE 74

NOTE 4
REVENUE

Sale of goods

Services

Sales revenue

Other revenue

Total revenue

2005
$M

7,780.9

159.8

7,940.7

40.9

7,981.6

123.6

5,738.1

31.5

5,769.6

NOTE 5
DIVIDENDS

NOTE 6
EARNINGS PER SHARE

2004
$M

2005
$M

2004
$M

2005
Cents

2004
Cents

5,614.5

Total dividends

343.0

241.6

Basic earnings 
per share

137.4

77.8

As at 30 June 2005, the company’s franking credits 
available for subsequent years is $257.8 million 
(2004: $147.4 million). The franking credits balance 
includes franking credits that are expected to arise 
from the payment of income tax payable as at the 
end of the financial year.

There is no diluted earnings per share impact from the 
senior managers long term incentive plan disclosed in 
the Remuneration Report as it is the current practice 
of the company to satisfy these entitlements through 
the buyback and cancellation of an equivalent number 
of BlueScope Steel Limited issued shares.

The directors have declared a fully franked final dividend 
of 24 cents and a fully franked special dividend of 
20 cents per fully paid ordinary share. The estimated 
final dividend payable of  $170 million and the special 
dividend payable of $142 million, to be paid on 
24 October 2005 (record date 5 October 2005), have 
not been recognised as a liability at 30 June 2005.

A fully franked final dividend of 18 cents ($134.9 million) 
and a fully franked special dividend of 10 cents 
($74.9 million) per fully paid ordinary share was paid 
on 18 October 2004. A fully franked interim dividend 
of 18 cents per fully paid ordinary share was paid 
on 4 April 2005 ($133.2 million).

2005
Number

2004
Number

733,031,445

750,542,940

2005
$M

2004
$M

1,007.1

601.8

(0.1)

(17.7)

1,007.0

584.1

Weighted average 
number of shares

Weighted average 
number of ordinary 
shares used as the 
denominator in 
calculating basic 
earnings per share

Reconciliation 
of earnings used 
in calculating 
earnings per share

Basic earnings 
per share

Net profit

Net profit 
attributable to 
outside equity 
interest

Earnings used in 
calculating basic 
earnings per share

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED 
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 30 JUNE 2005

PAGE 75

2005
Shares

732,320,847

(41,736,292)

15,414,055

1,943,100

2004
Shares

784,685,949

(52,365,102)

–

–

2005
$M

1,914.9

(204.2)

36.5

0.4

0.1

2004
$M

2,182.1

(257.7)

–

(9.2)

0.3

707,941,710

732,320,847

1,747.5

1,914.9

NOTE 7
MOVEMENTS IN ORDINARY SHARE CAPITAL

Opening balance

Share buyback

Long term incentive plan

Employee share plan

Less: Transaction costs arising on share buyback

SHARE BUYBACK

(i) On-market share buyback.

In August 2004, the company announced its intention to buyback on-market 18.4 million shares. Up until 30 April  2005 the company purchased on-market 9,534,633 shares 
at an average market price of $7.86 per share. In May 2005, the company announced the maximum number for the on-market share buyback program would be increased to 
35 million shares. A total of 15,880,095 shares were purchased for the 12 months at an average price of $7.83 per share. 

The previous year’s share buyback reflects the publicly announced on-market share buyback program, which concluded in March 2004.

(ii) Off-market share buyback. 

On 19 April 2005, the company outlayed $200.4 million buying back 3.5% of its issued capital at $7.75 per share which represented a 9% discount to the volume weighted 
average share price over the five-day period to 8 April 2005. 

In accordance with the principles outlined in UIG 22 “Accounting for share Buybacks of No Par Value Shares”, the capital component of $3.07 per share has been debited 
against the Share Capital Account while the remaining amount, including transaction costs of $1.7 million has been debited against retained earnings.

EMPLOYEE SHARE PLAN

In September 2004, the company issued 150 BlueScope Steel Limited shares at nil cost to 12,954 eligible employees (1,943,100 shares). In September 2003, the company 
provided 200 BlueScope Steel shares at nil cost to 9,403 eligible employees (1,880,600 shares). An equivalent number of shares were bought back at $4.88 per share. 
The objective of these share issues is to recognise and reward employees for their contribution to the BlueScope Steel’s financial results and workplace safety performance 
and provide them with the opportunity to become long term shareholders.

SHARE RIGHTS

The long term incentive plan is an award of share rights to eligible senior managers. The full details of the operation of the plan can be found in the Remuneration Report. 
In September 2004, 12,808,655 shares were issued at $2.85 per share and 2,605,400 shares were issued at nil cost in accordance with the term outlined in the July 2002 award.

PAGE 76

NOTE 8
RETAINED PROFITS

Retained profits at the beginning of the financial year

Net profit attributable to members of BlueScope Steel Limited

Share buyback

Dividends paid

Aggregate of amounts transferred from reserves

NOTE 9
FULL FINANCIAL REPORT

Notes

5

2005
$M

1,302.9

1,007.0

(122.9)

(343.0)

(3.0)

1,841.0

2004
$M

961.4

584.1

–

(241.6)

(1.0)

1,302.9

Further financial information can be obtained from the full financial report which is available from the company, free of charge, on request. A copy may be requested by 
contacting the company’s share registrar whose details appear in the Corporate Directory. Alternatively, both the full financial report and the concise financial report can 
be accessed via the internet at www.bluescopesteel.com.

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED
DIRECTORS’ DECLARATION    
30 JUNE 2005

The directors declare that in their opinion, the concise financial report of the consolidated entity for the year ended 30 June 2005 as set out on pages 62 to 76 complies 
with Accounting Standard AASB 1029: Concise Financial Reports.

The financial statements and specific disclosures included in this concise financial report have been derived from the full financial report for the year ended 30 June 2005.

The concise financial report cannot be expected to provide as full an understanding of the financial performance, financial position and financing and investing activities 
of the consolidated entity as the full financial report, which as indicated in note 9, is available on request.

This declaration is made in accordance with a resolution of the directors.

G J KRAEHE
CHAIRMAN

K C ADAMS 
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CEO

Melbourne
22 August 2005

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED 

PAGE 77

INDEPENDENT AUDIT REPORT 

TO THE MEMBERS OF BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED

SCOPE

Audit approach

INDEPENDENCE

The concise financial report and directors’ 
responsibility

The concise financial report comprises the 
statement of financial position, statement of 
financial performance, statement of cash flows 
and accompanying notes to the financial statements 
for the consolidated entity for the year ended 
30 June 2005. The consolidated entity comprises 
both BlueScope Steel Limited (the company) and 
the entities it controlled during the year.

The directors of the company are responsible 
for preparing a concise financial report and the 
additional disclosures included in the directors’ 
report are designated as audited (‘the additional 
disclosures’):

(cid:129)  directors remuneration table on p. 49 of the directors’ 

report;

(cid:129)  senior executives’ remuneration table on p. 50 

of the directors’ report; and

(cid:129)  share rights holdings table for specified executives 

on p. 51 of the directors’ report,

that complies with the Accounting Standard AASB 
1039 “Concise Financial Reports”, in accordance 
with the Corporations Act 2001. This includes 
responsibility for the maintenance of adequate 
accounting records and internal controls that are 
designed to prevent and detect fraud and error, and 
for the accounting policies and accounting estimates 
inherent in the concise financial report and the 
additional disclosures. 

We conducted an independent audit on the concise 
financial report and the additional disclosures in 
order to express an opinion on them to the members 
of the company. Our audit was conducted in 
accordance with Australian Auditing Standards in 
order to provide reasonable assurance as to whether 
the concise financial report is free of material 
misstatement. The nature of an audit is influenced 
by factors such as the use of professional judgment, 
selective testing, the inherent limitations of internal 
control, and the availability of persuasive rather 
than conclusive evidence. Therefore, an audit cannot 
guarantee that all material misstatements have 
been detected.

We performed procedures to assess whether in all 
material respects the concise financial report and 
the additional disclosures are presented fairly in 
accordance with Accounting Standard AASB 1039 
“Concise Financial Reports”. We formed our audit 
opinion on the basis of these procedures, which 
included:

(cid:129)  testing that the information in the concise financial 
report and the additional disclosures are consistent 
with the full financial report, and

(cid:129)  examining, on a test basis, information to provide 
evidence supporting the amounts, discussion and 
analysis, and other disclosures in the concise 
financial report that were not directly derived from 
the full financial report.

We have also performed an independent audit of 
the full financial report of the company for the year 
ended 30 June 2005. Our audit report on the full 
financial report was signed on 22 August 2005, 
and was not subject to any qualification. For a better 
understanding of our approach to the audit of the 
full financial report, this report should be read 
in conjunction with our audit report on the full 
financial report.

We are independent of the company, and have 
met the independence requirements of Australian 
professional ethical pronouncements and the 
Corporations Act 2001. We have given to the 
directors of the company a written Auditors’ 
Independence Declaration, signed on 22 August 
2005, a copy of which is included in the Directors 
Report.  In addition to our audit of the full and 
concise financial reports and the additional 
disclosures, we were engaged to undertake the 
services disclosed in the notes to the financial 
statements of the full financial report. The provision 
of these services has not impaired our independence.

AUDIT OPINION

In our opinion, the concise financial report and 
additional disclosures included in the Directors’ 
Report designated as audited of BlueScope Steel 
Limited complies with Accounting Standard 
AASB 1039 “Concise Financial Reports”.

ERNST & YOUNG

A I BECKETT 
PARTNER

Melbourne
22 August 2005

PAGE 78

SHAREHOLDER INFORMATION

DISTRIBUTION SCHEDULE

RANGE

1–1,000
1,001–5,000
5,001–10,000
10,001–100,000
100,001 and Over

Total

NO OF HOLDERS

NO. OF SHARES

% OF ISSUED CAPITAL

119,445
57,520
7,329
3,625
243

 188,162

50,678,632
128,249,766
 52,364,061
74,824,531
 402,033,020

 708,150,010

7.16
18.11
 7.39
 10.57
 56.77

100.00

The number of security investors holding less than a marketable parcel of 54 securities ($9.320 on 31/08/2005) is 4,116 and they hold 122,378 securities.

TWENTY LARGEST REGISTERED SHAREHOLDERS AS WEDNESDAY 31 AUGUST 2005 

RANK

NAME OF SHAREHOLDER

TOTAL UNITS

% OF ISSUED CAPITAL

1 
2
3 
4 
5
6 
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

J P MORGAN NOMINEES AUSTRALIA LIMITED
WESTPAC CUSTODIAN NOMINEES LIMITED
NATIONAL NOMINEES LIMITED 
ANZ NOMINEES LIMITED
CITICORP NOMINEES PTY LIMITED
RBC GLOBAL SERVICES AUSTRALIA NOMINEES PTY LIMITED
QUEENSLAND INVESTMENT CORPORATION
COGENT NOMINEES PTY LIMITED
AMP LIFE LIMITED
HSBC CUSTODY NOMINEES (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED
WESTPAC FINANCIAL SERVICES LIMITED
SUNCORP CUSTODIAN SERVICES PTY LIMITED
IAG NOMINEES PTY LIMITED
UBS NOMINEES PTY LTD
PSS BOARD 
GOVERNMENT SUPERANNUATION OFFICE
CITICORP NOMINEES PTY LIMITED
VICTORIAN WORKCOVER AUTHORITY
CSS BOARD
HEALTH SUPER PTY LTD

Total for Top 20
Total other investors

Grand total

The on-market buyback ended on Friday 2 September 2005.

SUBSTANTIAL SHAREHOLDERS

86,811,322
83,205,333
68,608,018
21,359,637
17,997,509
11,731,680
10,017,490
9,754,455
4,836,089
4,614,603
4,588,242
3,573,181
3,261,590
2,813,300
2,304,825
2,215,307
1,838,293
1,678,549
1,676,833
1,600,454

344,486,710
363,663,300

708,150,010

12.26%
11.75%
9.69%
3.02%
2.54%
1.66%
1.41%
1.38%
0.68%
0.65%
0.65%
0.50%
0.46%
0.40%
0.33%
0.31%
0.26%
0.24%
0.24%
0.23%

48.65%
51.35%

100.00%

Barclays Global Investors Australia Limited, by a notice of initial substantial holder dated 10 March 2003, advised that it and its associates were 
entitled to 39,730,425 ordinary shares.

AXA and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Limited, by a notice of change in interests of a substantial holder dated 25 August 2005, advised that it and 
its associates were entitled to 46,760,523 ordinary shares.

BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED 

PAGE 79

CORPORATE DIRECTORY

DIRECTORS
G J Kraehe AO Chairman
R J McNeilly Deputy Chairman
K C Adams Managing Director and 
Chief Executive Officer
D J Grady
H K McCann AM
P J Rizzo
Y P Tan

SECRETARY
M G Barron

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM
K C Adams Managing Director 
and Chief Executive Officer
N Cornish President Australian 
and New Zealand Industrial Markets
M Courtnall President Asian Building 
and Manufacturing Markets
I Cummin Executive Vice President 
People and Performance
B Kruger President Australian 
Manufacturing Markets
K Fagg President Australian Building 
and Logistics Solutions
L Hockridge President North America
G Hammond Acting Chief Financial Officer

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) 
will be held:
Friday 11 November 2005
2 pm (local time)
The Grand Hyatt, 
123 Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia 

WEBCAST
The AGM will be webcast live on 
www.bluescopesteel.com and an archived 
version will be lodged on the website for 
viewing at a convenient time.

REGISTERED OFFICE
BlueScope Steel Centre
Level 11, 120 Collins Street, 
Melbourne, Victoria 3000
Telephone: +61 3 9666 4000
Fax: +61 3 9666 4111  

POSTAL ADDRESS
PO Box 18207, Collins Street East, 
Melbourne, Victoria 8003

SHARE REGISTRAR
ASX Perpetual Registrars Limited
Level 4, 333 Collins Street
Melbourne, Victoria 3000
Telephone: 1300 855 998 (within Australia)
+61 3 9615 9130 (outside Australia)
General Fax: +61 3 9615 9900
Proxy Fax: +61 2 9287 0309
Website: www.asxperpetual.com.au
E-mail: bluescopesteel@asxperpetual.com.au

AUDITOR
Ernst & Young Chartered Accountants
Level 33, 120 Collins Street,
Melbourne, Victoria 3000

STOCK EXCHANGE
BlueScope Steel Limited shares are listed on 
the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX code: BSL).

WEBSITE ADDRESS
www.bluescopesteel.com

Design and production: ERD Design Commmunications Photograpy: Jean-Marc LaRoque, Peter Hyatt, Kenny Chai, David Lock, Chris Kappa, Peter Bennetts, Paul Bradshaw, 
CityLink photograph courtesy and copyright Transurban Limited Printing: Impact Printing Paper: PhoeniXmotion and Precision, Spicers Paper, produced with totally chlorine free pulp.

PAGE 80

OPERATIONS AROUND THE WORLD

  AUSTRALIA

STEEL PRODUCTION, ROLLING,  
COATING AND PAINTING FACILITIES

1  Port Kembla, NSW, Port Kembla  

Steelworks

1  Port Kembla, NSW, Springhill Works
2  Chullora, NSW 
3  Hastings, VIC, Western Port Works
4  Acacia Ridge, QLD

CORPORATE OFFICE

5  Melbourne, VIC

SERVICE CENTRES
4  Acacia Ridge, QLD
1  CRM, Port Kembla, NSW
2  Chullora, NSW
6  Sunshine, VIC
7  Braeside, VIC 
8  Wingfield, SA
9  WA Service Centre

BLUESCOPE LYSAGHT AUSTRALIA

10  Archerfield, QLD
11  Rocklea, QLD
12  Rockhampton, QLD
13  Mackay, QLD
14  Townsville, QLD
15  Cairns, QLD
16  Gold Coast, QLD
17  Toowoomba, QLD
2  Chullora, NSW
18  Emu Plains, NSW
19  Smithfield, NSW
20  Minchinbury, NSW
21  Smeaton Grange, NSW
22  Cardiff, NSW
23  Tamworth, NSW
24  Dubbo, NSW
25  Coffs Harbour, NSW
26  Albury, NSW
27  Queanbeyan, ACT
28  Lyndhurst, VIC
29  Dandenong, VIC
30  Campbellfield, VIC
31  Geelong, VIC
32  Hobart, TAS

33  Launceston, TAS
34  Devonport, TAS
35  Gillman, SA
36  Darwin, NT
37  Forrestfield, WA

BLUESCOPE WATER

38  Keysborough, VIC
39  St Marys, NSW
40  Unanderra, NSW
41  Beenleigh, QLD

THAILAND

42  Map Ta Phut, Rayong, 

BlueScope Steel Thailand
BLUESCOPE LYSAGHT THAILAND

43  Bangkok
44  Khon Kaen
42  Map Ta Phut, Rayong

  MALAYSIA
45  Kapar, Selangor, BlueScope Steel  
  Malaysia

BLUESCOPE LYSAGHT MALAYSIA

46  Shah Alam, Selangor
47  Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
48  Kuching Bintulu, Sarawak

INDONESIA

49  Cilegon, Java, BlueScope Steel  

Indonesia
BLUESCOPE LYSAGHT INDONESIA

50  Cibitung, Java
51  Medan, Sumatra
52  Surabaya, Java

  VIETNAM
53  Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province,  
BlueScope Steel Vietnam 
(operational 2006)
BLUESCOPE LYSAGHT VIETNAM

54  Ho Chi Minh City
55  Hanoi

  CHINA
56  Suzhou Province, BlueScope Steel
   China (operational 2006)

BLUESCOPE BUILDINGS

57  Shanghai 
58  Tianjin 
59  Langfang
60  Guangzhou
61  Chengdu

INDIA
BLUESCOPE BUILDINGS
62  Pune (operational 2006)
63  Chennai (operational 2007)
64  New Delhi (operational 2007)

  OTHER BLUESCOPE LYSAGHT  

– ASIA PACIFIC
65  SINGAPORE – Jurong
66  BRUNEI – Bandar Seri Begawan
67  SRI LANKA – Colombo
68  TAIWAN – Kaohsiung
69  NEW CALEDONIA – Noumea
70  VANUATU – Port Vila
71  FIJI – Suva, Nadi and Lautoka

  USA

CORPORATE OFFICE

72  Dallas, TX – Regional Headquarters

BUILDINGS GROUP  
  MANUFACTURING PLANTS
73  Annville, PA
74  Laurinburg, NC
75  Jackson, TN
76  Visalia, CA
77  San Marcos, TX
78  Selmer, TN

BUILDINGS GROUP  
  ADMINISTRATION AND  

ENGINEERING  
79  Kansas City, MO
80  Birmingham, AL 
81  Peoria, IL
82  Memphis, TN
83  Mason, OH
KORETECK
84  Staunton, VA 

VISTAWALL MANUFACTURING  
PLANTS
85  Terrell, TX
86  Greeneville, TN

VISTAWALL SERVICE/ 
DISTRIBUTION CENTRES

87  Seattle, WA
88  San Francisco, CA
89  Sacramento, CA
90  Modesto, CA
91  Los Angeles, CA
92  Denver, CO
72  Dallas, TX
93  Houston, TX
94  Minneapolis, MN
95  Wausau, WI
96  St Louis, MO
97  Chicago, IL
98  Detroit, MI
99  Cincinnati, OH
100  Cleveland, OH
101  Warwick, RI
102  Washington, DC
103  Tucker, GA
104  Newnan, GA
105  Tampa, FL
106  Bristol, PA
107  Bloomsburg, PA

JOINT VENTURE OPERATING  
SITES

108  Delta, OH – North Star BlueScope  

Steel

109  Crawfordsville, IN – Castrip®

CANADA
BUILDINGS GROUP SALES OFFICE

110  Burlington, ONT
111  Edmonton, Alberta

  MEXICO

BUTLER GROUP MANUFACTURING  
PLANT

112  Monterrey, Nuevo Leon

NEW ZEALAND

113  Glenbrook – New Zealand Steel
114  Waikato North Head – 

Ironsands Mine

115  Taharoa – Ironsands Mine

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
111

91

87

88

89

90

76

94

95

81

97

109

110

98

100

108

99

101

106

92

79

96

83

107

73
102

84

74

105

82
75
80

78
86
104

103

72

85

93

77

112

59

58

61

56

57

60

68

55

44

43

42

54

53

51

46

45

65

48

47

66

64

62

63

67

50

49

52

36

9
37

15

14

13

12

70

69

71

1011
4
1741
16
25
22
2

19

1
40

23

24

39

18
20
21

35
8

27

26

30
6

31

2928
38
5
3
7

34
33
32

113

114
115

GROWTH.
RESULTS

B
L
U
E
S
C
O
P
E
S
T
E
E
L

L
I
M
I
T
E
D

A
N
N
U
A
L
R
E
P
O
R
T
2
0
0
4
/
0
5

Level 11, 120 Collins Street
Melbourne, Victoria 3000 Australia 
www.bluescopesteel.com

9
  
 3
2
0
0
7
5
  
 0
4
4
6
6
4
  


BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED 
ANNUAL REPORT 2004/05