...MELBOURNE (Standard & Poor's) Aug. 24, 2015--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that South32 Ltd.'s (###+/Stable/A-2) full-year results for the financial year ended June 30, 2015, are in line with our rating expectations. In our view, despite the tough trading conditions affecting the company's main commodities, South32's strong balance sheet provides a large rating buffer to withstand potential further weakening in commodity prices. This strong balance sheet is the key factor that differentiates South32 from other investment-grade mining companies. To maintain the '###+' rating, we would expect South32's adjusted funds from operations (FFO) to debt to be comfortably more than 45% and its free operating cash flow to remain positive. Based on South32's preliminary results, we expect the company to easily surpass these levels in fiscal year 2015. We view positively the company's intention to reduce controllable costs by at least US$350 million per annum over the next three years,...
