Shareholders will soon be getting a sizeable Fortescue Ltd (ASX: FMG) dividend after the ASX mining share reported its FY24 result.
For the 2024 financial year, the company announced revealed revenue growth of 8% to US$18.2 billion, underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 7% to US$10.7 billion, underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) rose 3% to US$5.7 billion and NPAT grew 18% to US$5.7 billion.
Profit is the key financial measure for dividends because accounting profits are what companies use to fund dividends.
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Fortescue dividend
The Fortescue board of directors declared a final dividend per share of 89 cents, which was a year-over-year reduction of 11%. This brought the FY24 full-year dividend to A$1.97, which was 13% higher than the annual payout in FY23.
Fortescue said the total dividends declared for FY24 represented a dividend payout ratio of 70% of FY24's net profit. The miner said its payouts were consistent with its dividend policy to pay between 50% to 80% of the full-year underlying net profit.
At the current Fortescue share price, the final dividend amounts to a fully franked dividend yield of approximately 4.75% and a grossed-up dividend yield of 6.8%.
Important dates
The first date investors need to know is the ex-dividend date, which is the cut-off point for when investors miss out on the upcoming dividend. Investors need to own shares before the ex-dividend date to be entitled to the payout.
Fortescue announced that the ex-dividend is Wednesday, 4 September 2024, so interested investors need to own shares by the end of trading on Tuesday, 3 September 2024.
The upcoming Fortescue final dividend is expected to be paid on 27 September 2024, so shareholders have less than a month to wait.
Investors have the option to use the dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) to receive Fortescue shares rather than cash. They must activate the DRP by Friday, 6 September 2024, at 5pm.
Fortescue share price snapshot
Since the start of 2024, Fortescue shares have fallen by more than 36%. In the calendar year to date, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has risen by 5%, so Fortescue shares have underperformed by more than 40%. At the time of writing, shares in the miner are down $1.66% at $18.32.
For the 2025 financial year, the company is guiding for iron ore shipments of between 190mt to 200mt, including 5mt to 9mt for Iron Bridge.
