Rio Tinto Rewards Investors as Profit Rebounds on Iron Rally
- Iron ore surged 81% last year as China stimulus spurred demand
- Dividend beats analysts expectations; $500 million buyback
Iron Ore Leads Mining Turnaround, Boosts Rio Tinto
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Rio Tinto Group will pay a much higher dividend than expected and buy back $500 million of shares after the world’s second-biggest mining company reported the first gain in annual profit since 2013.
Higher iron ore prices boosted underlying profit 12 percent to $5.1 billion in 2016, London-based Rio said on Wednesday. That beat the $4.75 billion average estimate of analysts compiled by Bloomberg.