Rio Tinto to Pay Special Dividend, Write Down Mongolia Copper Asset
August 01 2019 - 03:03AM
Dow Jones News
By Rhiannon Hoyle
SYDNEY--Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.LN) said it would pay a special
dividend and raise its midyear payout, even as its first-half net
profit was cut by a write down of the value of a major copper
investment in Mongolia.
Rio Tinto, the world's second-biggest mining company by market
value, said on Thursday it would pay a special dividend worth
US$1.0 billion and raise its interim dividend to US$1.51 a share,
up from US$1.27 a share a year ago.
That was underpinned by a 12% lift in underlying earnings to
US$4.93 billion, missing a US$5.16 billion median forecast of seven
analysts' forecasts compiled by The Wall Street Journal. Rio Tinto
ships more iron ore from Australia than any other company, and has
benefited from prices of the industrial commodity surging to more
than five-year highs in the six-month period.
Still, the miner's net profit fell by 6% to US$4.13 billion
after management wrote down its investment in the Oyu Tolgoi copper
deposit in Mongolia by US$800 million. Rio Tinto said last month it
will take longer and cost more to finish building an underground
mine at Oyu Tolgoi, after early engineering work pointed to a
heightened risk of rock falls.
-Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 01, 2019 02:48 ET (06:48 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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