The 2,000 striking workers are demanding an 8 per cent wage increase in real terms; the company is offering 4 per cent. BHP has also offered a one-off bonus package and reduced-rate loan worth $32,000 to each worker.Yesterday's financial results showed just how profitable Escondida is for BHP. Workers and the company have moved closer in their offers to settle but negotiations have broken down amid rumours that BHP is preparing to bring in outsiders to work the mine. Yesterday it added a further $3bn to that scheme with its full-year results for 2006, taking the total buy-backs to $5bn. On top of that, it will pay shareholders $2.1bn in dividends for the year ended 30 June. A strike by workers at the Escondida copper mine in northern Chile, in which BHP has a 57.5 per cent stake, has entered its third week. The group had already declared a $2bn share buy-back programme after the first half of its financial year. The last time order books were better than normal was in August 2004..

BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, reported net profits of $10.5bn (£5.5bn) and announced it would give $3bn to shareholders yesterday, even as it continued to face down wage demands from striking workers in Chile. But it is disappointing that export orders have not improved more, given the current revival of the eurozone economy, our principal export market." He warned that given "continuing intense international competition", firms could struggle to raise prices.Despite the pick-up in August, total orders remained below normal according to a balance of 8 per cent of manufacturers, the CBI's monthly industrial trends survey showed. They are seeking to recoup lost profits after the recent surge in energy and raw material costs.Ian McCafferty, the CBI's chief economic adviser, said: "The outlook remains encouraging for UK manufacturers. This was an improvement on the balance of 11 per cent that reported below-normal orders in July.

"Inflationary pressures that are becoming ever more evident were also clear in this survey," Alan Clarke, the UK economist at BNP Paribas, said.More firms said they expected to increase their average prices over the next three months than at any time since January 2005. Stronger domestic demand, particularly from shipbuilders, aerospace companies and others in the capital goods sector, compensated for flat orders from exporters, according to a study of some 680 firms by the CBI, the UK's largest employers group. The survey suggested manufacturers were keen to exploit the improving economic backdrop by raising prices, which could stoke inflation, economists warned. After a one-off payment equal to 2 per cent of the value of its £5.6bn property portfolio, Slough will then be exempt from corporation tax.The company will pay an interim dividend of 6.9p, up from 6.5p in 2005.. British companies placed more orders with manufacturers last month than in almost two years, a snapshot survey of factory bosses showed yesterday, painting an improving picture of the UK economy. At the last Budget, Gordon Brown prompted a rerating of the traditionally fusty sector by clearing their path for conversion.