Rio Tinto reports lowest half-year earnings since 2020
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The news: Diversified mining giant Rio Tinto has reported its lowest half-year earnings since 2020 and declared a lower interim dividend amid a decline in iron ore prices.
The numbers: Rio’s underlying EBITDA for the first half of calendar year 2025 came in at USD11.5 billion ($17.7 billion), representing a 5% drop compared to the same period last year.
Profit after tax also fell by 16% to USD4.5 billion year on year as iron ore prices slipped 16%. An interim ordinary dividend of USD1.48 per share was declared, a 16% decline on the $1.77 declared for the first half of 2024.
Net debt at 30 June 2025 was USD14.6 billion, 166% greater than at 31 December 2024.
The context: Chinese demand for iron ore slowed earlier this year amid US trade tensions and a weak property sector. Operations in the first quarter of the year were also impacted by cyclones.
RBC Capital Markets analysts Kaan Peker and Ben Davis flagged that EBITDA was 3% better than consensus expectations. However, earnings per share were 10% lower than expected while dividends were 4% lower.
There has been no change to production guidance for the full year but iron ore volumes are expected at the lower end of the guidance range. About $150 million in additional cyclone recovery costs will be spent, “the majority of which is H2 weighted”, according to the miner.
Copper C1 cash net costs guidance has been lowered from between 130 and 150 US cents to between 110 and 130 US cents.
What they said: The RBC analysts said “Rio Tinto produced a good set of operational results across key divisions that was a 6% beat at the product group level, but this was dragged down by other items including restructuring costs at Arcadium”.
Outgoing Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm described the financial results as “resilient”, noting the company’s “improving operational performance” was supported by an “increasingly diversified portfolio”.
“We remain on track to deliver strong mid-term production growth, with solid foundations in place and a diverse pipeline of options for the future," he said.
