Rio Tinto profit jumps 56 per cent to $13.6 bn
SYDNEY: Annual net profit for the Mining giant Rio Tinto jumped 56 per cent to $13.64 billion after the sale of its stake in the Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia and Europe’s biggest aluminium smelter in Dunkerque, France.
It plans to reward shareholders with a special dividend after reporting another year of bumper profits on Wednesday, boosted by global asset sales last year.
The miner will use the cash returns from the divestments to issue a special dividend of $4.0 billion to shareholders. The dividends take the full-year cash splash for shareholders to a record $13.5 billion.
“These strong results reflect the efforts of the team to implement our value-over-volume strategy as we continued to strengthen the portfolio and invest in future growth,” said Rio chief executive Jean-sebastien Jacques.
Underlying profit for the year to December 31 — a measure preferred by the world’s secondlargest miner — was $8.81 billion, a two per cent increase from the previous period but above market expectations.
The strong result came despite underlying earnings for iron ore, Rio’s biggest commodity, slipping by three per cent to $6.5 billion.
Shares in Rio closed 0.59 per cent higher to Aus$95.12 on Wednesday in Sydney ahead of the result announcement.
The results came as Rio released a report into its efforts to transition to a low-carbon future, adding that it was now a major miner with a “fossil-fuel-free portfolio” after selling its coal assets.