Rio Tinto Posts Profit, Revenues Down, Plans $500 Mln Buyback; Cuts Dividend

(RTTNews) - Rio Tinto Plc (RTPPF.PK, RIO.L, RIO, RTNTF.PK) reported Wednesday that its fiscal 2016 net earnings were $4.62 billion, compared to last year's loss of $866 million.

Basic earnings per share were 256.9 US cents, compared to loss of 47.5 US cents a year ago.

Underlying earnings were $5.10 billion, compared to $4.54 billion last year. Underlying earnings per share were 283.8 cents, compared to 248.8 cents a year ago.

EBITDA margin of 38 percent in 2016 increased from 34 percent in 2015, reflecting the positive impact of the cash cost improvements.

Consolidated sales revenues were $33.8 billion, $1.0 billion lower than last year, primarily due to lower average commodity prices, and lower market premia for aluminium.

Further, the company announced total dividends for 2016 of 170 US cents per share, down 21 percent from last year's 215 US cents. This includes the final dividend of 125 US cents per share, which will be paid in April 2017.

The company also announced share buy-back totaling $500 million in Rio Tinto plc shares, bringing total shareholder returns for 2016 to $3.6 billion, representing 70 per cent of underlying earnings. The programme is expected to be completed over the period from March 1 to December 31.