(Alliance News) - Rio Tinto PLC increased its interim dividend on Wednesday as it reported rising profit and revenue in the first half.
The Anglo-Australian miner said pretax profit hit USD18.05 billion in the six months that ended June 30, up sharply from USD5.28 billion a year prior.
Consolidated sales revenue reached USD33.08 billion in the first half, the miner said, up 71% year-on-year from USD19.36 billion.
However, Rio Tinto's production share of iron ore pellets slipped by 5% to 5.1 million tonnes in the first half, from 5.3 million the year before.
Borates production also fell, down 4% to 248,00 tonnes from 258,000 tonnes in the first half of 2020.
The company's share of diamond and titanium oxide slag production grew year-on-year, by 2% and 4% respectively.
For the first half, Rio Tinto produced 1.9 million carats of diamonds, up from 1.8 million last year, plus 577,000 tonnes of titanium dioxide slag from only 555,000 tonnes.
With boosted profits, the company issued a 561 US cents per share interim dividend, comprised of an ordinary payout of 376.0 cents plus a 185.0 cent special dividend.
This is up sharply from the 155.0 cent interim dividend issued in 2020. The special payout alone was 19% higher.
Heading into the new second half, Rio Tinto said it expects Pilbara iron ore shipments to fall at the lower end of its 325 million to 340 million tonne guidance for 2021 due to Covid-19 disruptions, risks around tie-in mines and cultural heritage management concerns.
Pilbara iron ore unit cash costs on a free on board basis are expected to fall between USD18.0 and USD18.5 per wet metric tonne, the company said.
Mined copper is also expected to fall at the low end of the firm's 500,000 to 550,000 tonne guidance.
Once again, the firm maintained its capital expenditure guidance of around USD7.5 billion for 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Shares in Rio Tinto were trading down 0.2% at 6,030.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
The UK's financial watchdog will investigate the miner over claims that it withheld disclosures regarding its Oyu Tolgoi copper project in Mongolia's Gobi Desert, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
In July 2019, Rio Tinto announced delays of 16 to 30 months and additional costs of USD1.2 billion to USD1.9 billion at Oyu Tolgoi.
The company said the delay was due to difficult ground conditions, which required a re-examination of the project's design and schedule. First production at the mine is now expected by October 2022.
"However, some investors and a former employee have claimed Rio knew the expansion of the copper mine was in trouble months before the problems were disclosed to investors," the Financial Times reported.
The Financial Conduct Authority investigation could levy a fine against the miner, who is already facing legal action by the UK's Serious Fraud Office and US financial regulators.
https://www.ft.com/content/a63f4753-8bfa-4b01-81f7-dd83fd06b3ee
By Scarlett Butler; scarlettbutler@alliancenews.com
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Rio Tinto (RIO)
