RioTinto has announced record profits for 2021 and is set to distribute a record dividend of $ 16.8 billion, boosted by high iron ore prices and strong demand from China, the largest consumer.
The impressive results overshadow a mixed year for the world’s largest iron ore company, during which demand for the product recovered, with the global economy slowly recovering from the pandemic, but inflation and Chinese price controls created problems.
The company’s reputation was also hit as it found itself embroiled in a scandal over poor work culture, and more recently, Serbia closed a lithium project, a promising development area.
On the plus side, it settled a multi-year dispute over a huge copper-gold mining project in Mongolia.
The Anglo-Australian mining company announced underlying profits of $ 21.38 billion for the year ended December 31, up 72% from a year earlier.
Analysts expected $ 21.63 billion in underlying profits.
“Our balance sheet is the strongest in at least the last 15 years,” Rio TÃnto CEO Jakob Stausholm told reporters at a news conference after the results were announced.
The company announced a special dividend of 62 cents per share and a final dividend of a record $ 10.40 per share for 2021.
Source: Capital

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