The Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) share price is falling on Thursday morning.
At the time of writing, the mining giant's shares are down 2% to $119.88.
This follows the release of its full year results.
Rio Tinto share price falls on results day
- Sales revenue down 1% to US$53.7 billion
- Underlying EBITDA down 2% to US$23.3 billion
- Profit after tax up 15% to US$11.55 billion
- Fully franked final dividend of 225 US cents
- Total dividends per share down 8% to 402 US cents
What happened in FY 2024?
For the 12 months ended 31 December, the miner reported a 1% decline in sales revenue to US$53.7 billion. This reflects production growth of over 1% and a 3% increase in sales volumes, offset by softer iron ore prices.
Also falling slightly during the year was the company's underlying EBITDA, which was down 2% to US$23.3 billion.
The main drag on its profits was its Pilbara iron ore segment, which posted a 16.5% decline in underlying EBITDA to US$16.55 billion. This offset an impressive 66% increase in Copper underlying EBITDA to US$4.05 billion.
Commenting on the result, Rio Tinto's managing director, Jakob Stausholm said:
We continue to build on our momentum with another set of strong operational and financial results. With underlying EBITDA of $23.3 billion and operating cash flow of $15.6 billion, we are increasing our investments to underpin our plans for a decade of profitable growth. We are reporting underlying earnings of $10.9 billion, after taxes and government royalties of $8.2 billion, and a healthy return on capital employed of 18%.
Our strong balance sheet enables us to pay a $6.5 billion ordinary dividend, maintaining our practice of a 60% payout, the ninth consecutive year at the top end of our payout range, as we continue to invest with discipline.
Outlook
Stausholm spoke positively about the year ahead. He said:
We are excited as we head into 2025, with all the building blocks for an incredibly successful, diversified and growing business in place including the expected closing of the Arcadium acquisition in March. We will remain disciplined in the short, medium and long term, while paying attractive returns to shareholders.
All guidance for FY 2025 has been reaffirmed. This includes iron ore shipments of 323Mt to 338Mt and copper production of 780kt to 850kt.
This is expected with Pilbara iron ore unit cash costs of US$23 to $24.50 per tonne (US$23 in FY 2024) and copper unit costs of US$130 to US$150 per pound (US$142 in FY 2024).
