Rio Tinto rewards investors with record dividend after soaring first-half profit
Sydney/London — Global miner Rio Tinto more than doubled its first-half profit and rewarded shareholders with a record interim dividend and a further $1bn in share buybacks, citing strong demand for industrial commodities. Underlying earnings for the six months to June 30 of $3.94bn missed forecasts for $4.19bn, according to Thomson Reuters IBES, but were well above 2016’s $1.56bn on a recovery in iron ore and other commodity prices. Rio Tinto declared a record-high half-year dividend of $1.10 a share, equivalent to $2bn, up from 45 US cents a share a year ago. The latest buyback comes on top of a $500m programme announced in February. "The Chinese economy has performed well in 2017 and the outlook signs for 2018 are positive," CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques told reporters. "Beyond China, global economies have both improved in Europe and the US." Rio’s London-listed shares were trading down 1.8% in early trade on Wednesday, with analysts citing some disappointment over the miss in earni...
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