But lower metal prices cause earnings at Rio Tinto plc (LON: RIO) to drop 40%.
The shares of Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) (NYSE: RIO.US) rallied 66p, or 2%, to 3,822p during early London trade this morning after the miner lifted its annual dividend by 18%.
Rio declared a total payout of 106.77p per share for 2012 compared to 90.47p per share for 2011.
The dividend lift accompanied full-year results that showed revenues falling $10bn to $50bn and underlying earnings declining $6bn to $9bn. Rio blamed the lack of progress on lower metal prices, which the firm said wiped $5bn from its bottom line.
Rio's figures were also blighted by write offs totalling $14bn, which were revealed last month and triggered the appointment of a new chief executive.
Sam Walsh, Rio's newly installed boss, said this morning:
"Today I am setting out how we can build on our strengths and improve this great company. Under my leadership, Rio Tinto will have an unrelenting focus on pursuing greater value for shareholders."
"To do this we need to run the business as owners not managers and my immediate priority is to build more focus, discipline and accountability throughout the organisation."
Mr Walsh added that he was "targeting significant cash proceeds from divestments from non-core businesses in 2013" and "cumulative cash cost savings of more than $5bn over the next two years".
Based on today's figures, Rio's shares trade on a P/E of 12 and yield 2.8%.
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> Maynard does not own any share mentioned in this article.
