Rio Tinto shares fell 2% to 96.9p in late morning trading on Wednesday on the back of largely flat production in HY1 2022, with the first iron ore delivered from its Gudai-Darri project and the commencement of operations at the underground Oyu Tolgoi mine.
Rio Tinto confirmed a consolidated sales revenue drop of 10% to £29.7 billion against $33 billion year-on-year.
The mining company reported an underlying EBITDA of $15.6 billion, alongside free cash flow of $7.1 billion and underlying earnings of $8.6 billion after taxes and government royalties of $4.8 billion.
The group also noted a post-tax profit slide of 28% to $8.9 billion from $12.3 billion across HY1 2022, linked to movement in commodity prices, higher energy prices and rising rates of inflation on operating costs and closure liabilities.
“We remain focused on delivering on our long-term strategy, with a steady improvement in operating performance and some notable advances in our growth agenda,” said Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm.
“We continue to strengthen our partnership with the Mongolian government following commencement of underground mining at Oyu Tolgoi, delivered first iron ore from the Gudai-Darri mine and approved early works funding at the Rincon lithium project.”
“Market conditions were good, albeit below last year’s record levels. The market environment has become more challenging at the end of the period.”
Rio Tinto announced its second-highest interim dividend on record, confirming a HY1 payment of $4.3 billion, representing 267c per share.