Mining entrepreneur Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest has pocketed a $445 million dividend cheque after his company Fortescue Metals Group posted a more than 100 per cent net profit jump on the back of stronger than expected iron ore prices.
Australia’s third-largest iron ore producer released its full year figures to the market this morning and reported a net profit of $US2.1 billion ($2.6 billion) — up 112 per cent on last year. The Perth-based company also reported a 19 per cent rise in revenue after shipping 170 million tonnes of iron ore for the year.
Fortescue chief executive Nev Power said the strong results reflected higher iron ore prices and a relentless drive to lower production costs.
“Safety improved by 33 per cent compared to the previous year, while costs improved 17 per cent and we achieved a record low C1 operating cost of US$12.16/wmt in the June quarter.”
FMG also reported cash on hand was $US1.8 billion with net debt reduced by 21 per cent to $US2.6 billion. The firm will pay a final dividend of 25 cents a share, taking the full year pay out to 45 cents a share.
For the rest of this article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-21/fmg-results-show-surge-in-net-profit/8826194