It's been an exciting earnings season so far for passive income investors, with many dividend-paying S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares bolstering their offerings. But not all has been well in dividend land this week.
Three ASX 200 shares have slashed their dividends, one by as much as 50%. Let's take a look.
3 ASX 200 shares slicing their dividends this week
First out of the gate is ASX 200 iron ore giant Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG). The company reported its first-half earnings on Wednesday.
It posted a 3.6% slump in revenue, falling to US$7.8 billion, and a 4.7% fall in net profit after tax (NPAT), which came in at US$2.4 billion.
The average iron ore price realised by the miner also tumbled last half to US$87 per dry metric tonne. For comparison, that figure was US$96 a tonne in the prior comparable period.
Finally, Fortescue declared a fully franked interim dividend worth 75 Australian cents – a 12.8% year-on-year drop.
Having a better half was Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN). Though, the ASX 200 gold share still slashed its dividend on Thursday.
It declared a 2 cents per share fully franked interim dividend – down from 3 cents per share this time last year. That marks a 50% reduction.
The company instead chose to put much of its extra cash towards growth projects at its Cowal and Red Lake assets.
It posted $101 million of statutory NPAT, an 11% improvement, and $446 million of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA), a 13% jump.
Finally, South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) also cut its interim dividend to 4.9 US cents, down from 8.7 US cents in financial year 2022 – a 43.7% drop.
The company posted its first-half earnings on Thursday, declaring a 34% drop in profits and a 44% fall in underlying earnings. They came in at US$685 million and US$560 million respectively.
Weighing on its finances were falling commodity prices, inflation, and uncontrollable costs.
