Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm has credited the stimulus spending by world governments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for the UK-Australian miner’s record financial results for the six months to end-June (H1FY2021).
While the global mining giant focused on safely running its world-class assets and supplying its customers, Stausholm says, the stimulus spending has driven strong demand for commodities at a time of constrained supply and resulted in significant spikes in most prices.
Rio Tinto posted record underlying earnings of $US12.17B (H1FY2020: $4.75B) and free cashflow of $10.18B ($2.81B) on consolidated sales revenue of $33.08B ($19.36B). Underlying EBITDA was $21.04B ($9.64B).
The company will pay ordinary plus special dividends totalling US561cps (155c), representing 75% of underlying earnings.