Rio Tinto: Sagging iron ore price did not stifle ’24 growth

Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) has today declared that, despite a weaker iron ore price, its financials for the year ended December 31 were strong.

The heavyweight mining company has reported an underlying profit after tax of US$10.9 billion and an underlying EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of US$23.3 billion.

The latter was down only 2% from the EBITDA of US$23.8 billion recorded in 2023. Revenue was also marginally (1%) lower, at US$53.6B, from US$54.0 in the previous year.

Given an iron ore price which had been 11% lower for the year, Rio CEO Jakob Stausholm said this was a good result overall, as higher prices in bauxite and LME copper and aluminium had partly offset the situation.

“With underlying EBITDA of $23.3 billion and operating cash flow of $15.6 billion, we are increasing our investments to underpin our plans for a decade of profitable growth,” Mr Stausholm explained.

“We are reporting underlying earnings of $10.9 billion, after taxes and government royalties of $8.2 billion, and a healthy return on capital employed of 18%.”

Rio’s ordinary dividend per share was 402 US cents, down from 435c in 2023.

The mining giant has been trading at A$121.95.

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