- Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) -3.1% premarket after reporting H1 underlying profit of $3.94B, surging from $1.6B a year earlier but missing the $4.26B analyst consensus, while H1 revenue rose 25% Y/Y to $19.32B.
- Profit may have been weaker than some estimates due to a $2.5B bond buyback, a $144M deferred tax charge related to the Grasberg copper operation in Indonesia and a $176M one-off payment following a strike at Chile’s Escondida mine, CFO Chris Lynch says.
- With operating cash flow rising 95% Y/Y to $6.3B, Rio announces a $2B interim dividend - $1.10/share, up from $0.45 a year ago - and a $1B expansion of its share buyback program, for a total shareholder payout of $3B, or 75% of underlying earnings.
- WSJ's Heard On The Street says Rio has been "smart but also lucky," benefiting from an H1 spike in prices of key commodities including iron ore, copper and aluminum, and perhaps should have held on to more of its cash rather than forking it over to shareholders.
Original article