Fortescue Ltd (FMG) Q2 2024 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Welcome all. It's great to be back with you again. And with me today is Mark Hutchinson, Energy CEO and Apple Paget Acting CFO. We're joining you from Gabon in Central Africa. And it's been a really productive visit spending time with the team, the government and a variety of stakeholders around this beautiful country. We're out at the Linga site early this week, and I continue to be amazed by the energy of the team, the potential of the project and the support we have in country. Onto the results. Last month, we presented our quarterly production results, which included our second highest first half shipments of 94.6 million tonnes. We achieved this while standing by our absolute commitment to safety and keeping costs low to drive performance and ensure we set the business up for future success. We achieved a C1 cost of less than $18 per tonne in the half, and I promise you we remain laser-focused on maintaining our industry-leading cost position. That strong operating performance in the first half underpins the outstanding financial results we reported today, including underlying EBITDA of $5.9 billion, up 36%, and net profit after tax of $3.3 billion, up 41%. Reflecting these results, the board today declared a fully frank interim dividend of one Australian dollar and eight cents per share, representing a 65% payout of first half net profit after tax and a return of 3.3 billion Aussie dollars to shareholders. There were many highlights during the half. We shipped our two billion tonne of ore in September and achieved record shipments in December. Through the flexibility of our supply chain and use of innovation and technology, including AI, This has improved our rail capacity, which has helped to buffer against supply chain variability. You can see this in action ...