Rio Tinto reports record profit and $US16.8bn dividend on bumper iron ore prices
Rio Tinto has reported its best-ever annual profit and a record full-year dividend of $US16.8bn, boosted by higher iron ore prices and strong demand from top consumer China.
The stellar results cap a mixed year for the world’s biggest iron ore producer, during which demand for its mainstay product picked up with the global economy slowly recovering from the coronavirus pandemic but inflation and Chinese scrutiny on prices created headwinds.
Rio’s reputation suffered as it was caught in a scandal about poor workplace culture and, more recently, Serbia shut down a lithium project, a promising growth area. On the plus side, it resolved a long-running dispute over a massive Mongolian copper-gold mining project.
The Anglo-Australian miner on Wednesday posted underlying earnings of $21.38bn for the year ended 31 December, up 72% from a year earlier. Analysts had expected underlying earnings of $21.63bn, according to Visible Alpha.
“Our balance sheet is the strongest it’s been for at least 15 years,” Rio Tinto’s chief executive, Jakob Stausholm, told reporters in a news conference after the results were announced.
Rio Tinto declared a final special dividend of 62 cents a share and a final dividend of $4.17 a share, higher than the $3.09 a share final dividend a year earlier, bringing the total dividend for 2021 to a record $10.40 a share.
The company’s shares closed 1.2% higher on the Australia Stock Exchange ahead of the results.
Rival miner BHP Group also declared a record dividend payout after reporting an estimate-beating first-half profit last week.
Labour shortages induced by Covid-19 restrictions have hit Australian miners, with Rio previously forecasting weaker-than-expected iron ore shipments for 2022.
“Rio Tinto remains a
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