Fortuescue´s CEO receives record dividend payment

The price and shipping spikes drove Fortescue shares up 70% this year. The increased dividend payout should translate into more than A $ 1 billion ($ 803.26 million) in profit for the company's largest shareholder, Chairman Andrew Forrest. Booming iron ore prices have smoothed the balance sheets of the world's major iron ore mines and propped up the Australian economy amid the first recession in a generation. Prices soared after China, the world's largest iron ore consumer, increased infrastructure spending to weather an economic slump caused by the coronavirus. "It was a great result. Very straightforward, very clean results, all specifications met the specifications," said analyst Glyn Lawcock from UBS in Sydney. "Now it will just depend on how iron ore prices develop over the next 12 months. Iron ore prices were $ 126.50 per ton, up 36% this year. The fourth largest iron ore miner in the world said net income for fiscal 2020 was $ 4.74 billion, up 49% from $ 3.19 billion a year ago. According to Refinitiv IBES, analysts expected an average profit of $ 4.77 billion. Shares rose 3.3% at A $ 18.59 in an otherwise flat Australian stock market. The company declared a final dividend of A $ 1 per share, up from A $ 0.24 paid last year. With the final payout, the total dividend for the year was A $ 1.76 per share, up 54% year over year and accounting for 77% of total net profit for the year - at the high end of the company's payout policy of up to 80%. In 2019, Andrew Forrest was the seventh richest person in Australia with $ 4.6 billion, according to Forbes, largely thanks to his 36% stake in Fortescue.