On Thursday the Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price was trading 3.6% lower and BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) share price 2% lower, according to Google Finance, after Rio released its financial results to investors.
In a statement to the ASX after the market’s close on Wednesday, Rio Tinto revealed that its shareholders stood to receive a dividend of $US1.27 per share following a 33% increase in net profit.
Overnight in London, FTSE-listed shares of Rio Tinto plc (LON: RIO) ended the day down 3.4% on the results.
Rio Tinto’s CEO, J-S Jacques was upbeat about the result, saying, “We have reported another strong set of results with underlying EBITDA of $9.2 billion and operating cash flow of $5.2 billion.”
However, Fairfax reported that Rio’s result fell short of some analysts’ expectations, in terms of dividends, revenue and profit. Shaw and Partners analyst Peter O’Connor said, “The result was solid uplift year-on-year although there were some softer areas half-on-half.”
Analysts and investors will now turn their attention to BHP’s full-year results which are due on August 21.
