Andrew Twiggy Forrest and his wife Nicola in New York. Rob Kim/Getty Images Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has done very well from the return to normal dividends at his pure play iron ore company Fortescue Metals.
Forrest has more than 1 billion shares in the company he built. This means his dividend cheque for 2016 will total more than $A155 million.
The mining company today posted a 210% rise in full year profit to $US985 million ($A1.3 billion), smashing analyst expectations of about $US800 million.
While revenue fell 17% to $US7.08 billion, reflecting weak prices for iron ore, Fortescue was highly successful in cutting costs.
And the company has returned to its 30% to 40% dividend payout regime after cuts last year in response to falling iron ore prices.
Today Fortescue declared a 12 Australian cents a share final fully franked dividend, bringing the annual payout to 15 Australian cents, a ratio of 36% of profit after tax, in line with guidance of 30% to 40%.
Last year the payout was 2 cents.
Forrest personally and through his private company Minderoo Group Pty Ltd controls 33.32% of Fortescue. That comes down to 1,037,479,247 shares, according to the latest annual report released today.
A 15 cents a share dividend means Forrest gets a total of $155.62 million.
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