Rio bosses once would have expected to be fired for breaking the unwritten rule that a big miner’s dividend should only increase – that’s not going to happen now
Bang, there goes another fat FTSE 100 dividend. Rio Tinto is scrapping its “progressive” dividend policy, pausing only to let down its income-hungry shareholders gently. The dividend for 2015 will be the same as for 2014 – $2.15 a share. The shock will come in 2016’s payment – “not less than 110 cents.” And, by 2017, anything is possible: the board will form a view at the time, taking account of all relevant factors, blah, blah.
Once upon a time, a Rio chief executive could expect to be fired for breaking the unwritten rule that a big miner’s dividend should only ever increase. That is not going to happen to Sam Walsh.