Rio Tinto logs smallest first-half profit in five years on lower iron ore prices

By Melanie Burton, Sameer Manekar and Clara Denina

(Reuters) -Rio Tinto reported its smallest first-half underlying profit since 2020 and lowest interim dividend in seven years on Wednesday, as falling iron ore prices and rising costs in Australia highlighted the challenges facing its incoming CEO.

The world's largest iron ore producer posted underlying earnings of $4.81 billion for the six months to June 30, down 16% from a year earlier and slightly below a $5.05 billion Visible Alpha consensus.

Prices the miner received for its iron ore fell by 15%, though that was partly offset by stronger prices for copper, bauxite, alumina, aluminium and gold.

Rio, which is increasingly shifting its focus to copper and lithium, declared a $1.48 per share interim dividend, down from $1.77 last year. Its London-listed shares were down 1.3% at 1145 GMT.

Still, outgoing CEO Jakob Stausholm said the company was in "good shape", with lots of opportunities ahead for iron ore boss Simon Trott, who will take charge from August 25.

"With the CEO transition ... one question is: how will Rio's strategy change? The consensus is that management will be focused on operational improvements," analysts at Jefferies, who don't expect major changes, said.

Stausholm said his major achievements included Rio Tinto's progress towards cutting carbon emissions by 50% by the end of the decade.

Costs rose during his tenure, but the miner was boosting operational efficiency as it worked on new lithium and copper projects, Stausholm said, declining to comment on any potential headcount reduction.

"We are streamlining the company, and there might be more to come," Stausholm told investors.

Reuters reported that Rio Tinto is considering a possible sale of its titanium unit, as well as streamlining the structure of its core businesses.

Asked by analysts, Stausholm said the Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium (RTIT) business had low profitability in the first half.

"They had very difficult conditions. But the question is still, are we the best owner of it or are we not? And I happily leave that for my successor," he said.

Rio Tinto's unit costs at its flagship Pilbara iron ore operations in Western Australia rose to $24.3 per wet metric ton (wmt) in the first half, from $23.2 per wmt last year, due to lower shipments and impact from cyclones.

Iron ore prices eased on lower steel production in top consumer China and more supply from Australia, Brazil, and South Africa.

Rio maintained its full-year Pilbara shipment guidance at the lower end of its 323-338 million tons range.

In lithium, prices have started to recover from a downturn, and Rio Tinto has seen robust demand from the stationary battery sector which has doubled from a year ago, Stausholm said.

TARIFFS

Stausholm said U.S. tariffs on copper represented an opportunity for Rio's Kennecott project, where he expects the smelter to become "much more profitable from the tariffs immediately".

He said that growing power demand from data centres could double U.S. copper consumption to 4 million tons, adding that the company's Resolution Copper project in Arizona, if built, "should be able to produce one-fourth of the copper consumption in the U.S. for decades to come."

But talking about the company's aluminium business in Canada, he said the end consumer would be charged for the 50% U.S. import tariff in effect since June 4.

"Do we like all this? Do we like a 50% tariff on aluminium? Not really. But it's not for us to make statements around that," Stausholm said. "I think it's much more the final consumer that will have to pay. We are able to pass on things."

(Reporting by Melanie Burton, Clara Denina, Sameer Manekar and Rishav Chatterjee; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Bernadette Baum and Mark Potter)