Rio Tinto doubles divi and promises £3bn buyback

Global miner Rio Tinto more than doubled its full-year dividend and promised a $5 billion (£3bn) share buyback by 2012 after unveiling a record second-half profit yesterday.

Underlying earnings before one-offs rose to $8.22bn for the six months to December from $3.73bn a year earlier. Rio hoisted its dividend to 108 cents a share from 45 cents. Chief executive Tom Albanese said it showed Rio Tinto was "reinvigorated, running strongly and benefiting from favourable markets".

But some analysts said the buyback was not big enough, and Rio's shares closed down 110p at 4,549p.

Paul Galloway, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, said: "$5bn isn't enough. It is ultra conservative."