What a difference two years can make. In early 2009, Rio Tinto was frazzled and, mid-crisis, groaning under $40bn of Alcan acquisition debt and scrabbling for cash. Now its biggest challenge is using up its abundant cash flow. Thanks to rising Asian commodities demand and surging prices, the Anglo-Australian miner’s underlying earnings in 2010 were $14bn and cash flow was $24bn. But crisis-chastened chief executive Tom Albanese remains cautious. He fears that the withdrawal of
post-crisis stimulus packages could trigger volatility and substantial swings in commodity prices.
He has put the latest upswing in the commodities supercycle to good use: profits and $11bn of disposals have cut net debt to $4.3bn and gearing is only 6 per cent. With its debt pile tamed – improving its chances of regaining the single A rating lost after it bought Alcan – the miner can also afford to return cash to shareholders. It increased its annual dividend by 140 per cent to 108 cents and launched a $5bn