And now its down to Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals and BHP Billiton to see which company blinks in declaring dividends in the next few weeks after contradictory stances on Friday from two global resources giants in Chevron and Vale, the huge Brazilian miner.
Chevron decided to maintain its interest and full year dividend, despite a shock 4th quarter loss of $US588 million and a big slide in annual earnings to just $US4.6 billion from $US19.2 billion in 2014.
Vale on the other handed revealed it is proposing to scrap its dividends to save cash this year.
Vale – which is world’s biggest producer of iron ore and nickel – said that its executive board has proposed a "zero" dividend this year to its supervisory board, which would then be subject to shareholder approval at the company’s annual meeting in April.
“As the year progresses and we have more clarity on the market scenario, the board of directors may decide on the distribution of some remuneration to shareholders, provided that there is sufficient cash flow generation,” the company said in a statement on Friday night.
Earlier this month, Moody’s Investors Service placed Vale’s debt on review for possible downgrade (BHP and Rio were also on the list, but not Chevron), citing weak demand for prices of base metals, iron ore and other commodities because of slowing growth in China. Moody’s currently rates Vale at Baa3, the lowest of investment grades.
Chevron though again will pay a dividend of $US1.07 for the quarter – it hasn’t changed for more than a year. Full year dividends were $US4.28 against $US4.21 a share in 2014, which was more than earnings per share of $US2.46 a share against $US10.21 in 2014.
Rio is due to report full year earnings for 2015 on February 11, BHP reports its half year figures on February 23 and Fortescue is a day later. Vale is due to report late this month as well.
