Rio Tinto posts highest first-half earnings in four years on copper strength
Rio Tinto posts highest first-half earnings in four years on copper strength
Tue, July 28, 2026 at 11:34 PM UTC
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July 29 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto on Wednesday posted its highest half-year underlying earnings in four years, as a surge in profits from its copper division and higher commodity prices more than offset softer earnings from iron ore.
The world's largest iron ore producer reported underlying earnings of $6.85 billion for the six months ended June 30, up 43% from $4.81 billion a year earlier and broadly in line with a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $6.80 billion.
Underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) surged 84% to $5.7 billion for its copper division, driven partly by higher output from its Mongolian operations.
Iron ore, which remains the group's largest earnings contributor, generated underlying EBITDA of $6.8 billion, down 1% from a year earlier.
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The company declared its highest interim dividend in four years at $2.11 per share, compared with $1.48 per share a year earlier.
The Anglo-Australian miner kept its 2026 production and sales forecasts unchanged.
Rio said it remained on track to unlock $5 billion to $10 billion of cash through portfolio management and infrastructure initiatives, with opportunities to release around $5 billion by the end of 2026 already being progressed.
The company retained its target to cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% from 2018 levels by 2030, but warned that achieving the goal depended on the timely delivery of third-party renewable energy projects and commercial agreements that could not be guaranteed.
(Reporting by Roshan Thomas and Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru, Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
Source: “AOL Money”
