LONDON (Reuters) – British-Australian mining group Rio Tinto cut its dividend by more than half on Wednesday after posting a 38% drop in annual profit, hurt by falling iron ore prices as the economy slowed. Chinese demand and rising labor and material costs.
The mining giant thus joins other companies in the sector which posted profits and dividends lower than the 2021 records, due to the disruptions which reduced production and penalized by the rising costs of energy, labor. skilled labour, explosives and equipment.
Rio Tinto announced underlying profits of $13.3 billion for 2022 (12.4 billion euros), compared to a record of 21.4 billion in 2021, while analysts expected 13.8 billions of dollars.
The group also announced an annual dividend of $4.92 per share, down from a record high of $10.40 in 2021.
The title fell 3% on the London Stock Exchange at 10:14 GMT.
Restrictions to combat COVID-19 in China, the world’s largest steel producer, have slowed economic activity in 2022, resulting in lower iron ore prices from high levels in 2021.
However, the world’s top iron ore producer said Chinese consumption was showing signs of rebounding, as the world’s second-largest economy reopened its borders in January and eased quarantine requirements for travellers, after three years of restrictions. strict.
(Report Clara Denina, Harish Sridharan, and Harshita Swaminathan; Diana Mandiá, editing by Kate Entringer)
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