Rio Tinto Chief Executive Simon Trott said: "We achieved a step-change in performance in the first half, which, alongside favourable commodity prices, delivered a 28 per cent increase in underlying EBITDA and a 75 per cent rise in free cash flow.
"Our continued investment in growth drove a 3 per cent increase in copper equivalent production¹ and further strengthened our portfolio diversification, with Copper, Aluminium and Lithium contributing more than 50 per cent of underlying EBITDA.
"Our strong performance is underpinned by accelerating productivity across the business. We have already banked $870 million of productivity benefits and are on track to reach an annualised run-rate of $1.8 billion by year-end, with significantly more to come as our multi-year program continues to scale.
"Our strong cash flow and balance sheet allow us to declare a $3.4 billion interim ordinary dividend, up 43 per cent, as we continue to invest in high-returning growth."
1. Executive Summary
- +3% CuEq production growth1 in the first half underpinned by strong operational delivery with higher production across key commodities and execution of major growth projects in iron ore (Simandou) and lithium.
- Step-change in financial performance, generating underlying EBITDA3 of $14.8 billion (+28%), and free cash flow3 of $3.8 billion (+75%).
- Profit after tax attributable to owners of Rio Tinto of $6.7 billion (+47%), with underlying earnings3 of $6.9 billion (+43%) driving an underlying return on capital employed (ROCE)3 of 17%. Taxes and government royalties were $5.6 billion2.
- Strong cash generation with $9.2 billion of operating cash flow (+32%) supporting continued investment in our world-class growth pipeline, while maintaining a strong balance sheet.
- Interim ordinary dividend of $3.4 billion (+43%), with an interim payout ratio of 50%.
Six months ended 30 June |
2026 |
2025 |
Change |
||
Net cash generated from operating activities (US$ millions) |
9,173 |
6,924 |
32% |
||
Rio Tinto Share of Capital Investment3 (US$ millions) |
5,037 |
4,504 |
12% |
||
Free cash flow3 (US$ millions) |
3,834 |
2,185 |
75% |
||
Consolidated sales revenue (US$ millions) |
31,028 |
26,873 |
15% |
||
Underlying EBITDA3 (US$ millions) |
14,826 |
11,547 |
28% |
||
Underlying earnings3 (US$ millions) |
6,851 |
4,807 |
43% |
||
Profit after tax attributable to owners of Rio Tinto (net earnings) (US$ millions) |
6,664 |
4,528 |
47% |
||
Underlying earnings per share (EPS)3 (US cents) |
421.4 |
296.0 |
42% |
||
Ordinary dividend per share (US cents) |
211.0 |
148.0 |
43% |
||
Underlying return on capital employed (ROCE)3 |
17% |
14% |
+3pp |
||
At 30 June 2026 |
At 31 December 2025 |
||||
Net debt3 (US$ millions) |
14,061 |
14,362 |
(2)% |
||
1 Copper equivalent volume = Rio Tinto's share of production volume / Volume conversion factor x Product price ($/t) / Copper price ($/t). Prices are based on long-term consensus prices.2 In H1 2025, taxes and government royalties were $4.8 billion.3 |
|||||
