Andrew Forrest’s $1.2b payday as Fortescue shines
Imagine earning $3.4 million every day. That’s what mining magnate Andrew Forrest made this year in dividends from Fortescue Metals.
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Billionaire mining magnate and philanthropist Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest will pocket more than $1.2 billion in dividends from Fortescue Metals this year.
The record payday comes after the Pilbara iron ore miner unveiled a better-than-expected full-year profit and bumper final dividend of 24c a share.
Mr Forrest is Fortescue chair and its biggest shareholder, with a 35 per cent stake in the miner — the fourth-biggest iron ore producer in the world.
His holding will deliver him a payout of $261.6 million in final dividends due to be sent out on October 2.
The latest payment comes on top of a special dividend of 60c a share declared in May, and the interim dividend of 30c a share announced at its first-half results in February.
All up, the miner declared $1.14 in dividends per share for the year to June, handing Mr Forrest a whopping $1.24 billion. That adds up to $3.4 million a day, or almost $142,000 an hour.
The latest dividend haul is about $1 billion more than the $239 million Mr Forrest pocketed for 2017-18.
Fortescue’s surprise 60c-a-share dividend declared in Mayh was viewed by many investors as a way for the company to make use of its franking credits ahead of a crackdown promised by Labor had it won the federal election.
The dividend bonanza for one of the nation’s most high-profile corporate figures came as Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg yesterday urged company bosses to invest more in innovation rather than returning spare cash to shareholders through dividends or buybacks.
Mr Forrest was ranked eighth on The Australian’s Richest 250 table when it was published in late March, with a fortune of $7.57 billion.
He and wife Nicola were the first Australians to join The Giving Pledge philanthropic movement, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates along with Warren Buffett.
The movement encourages the world’s billionaires to give at least half of their wealth to charity.
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A key philanthropic vehicle for the Forrests is The Minderoo Foundation, which works across various areas including modern slavery, cancer research, improving the health of oceans and tackling the disparity between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
Net profit at Fortescue almost tripled to $US3.19 billion ($4.73 billion) for the year to June as it became the latest miner to cash in on iron ore prices sent higher by production outages in Brazil and strong demand from Chinese steel mills.
Fortescue received an average price of $US65 a tonne for its ore in the year to June, up from $US44 a tone the previous financial year.
Shares in the group fell 5.3 per cent yesterday to $7.17 as the broader mining sector lost ground amid a broad market sell-off.