Record Fortescue shipments deliver Forrest a $2.3 billion bonanza

Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue has delivered its second-biggest ever net profit of $US6.2 billion ($9 billion) after shipping a record 189 million tonnes of iron ore out of the Pilbara.

Fortescue shareholders will receive a final dividend of $1.21 a share, fully franked, taking the total dividend for the 12 months to June 30 to $2.07 a share.

Forrest, who will soon take the helm of the company he founded as executive chairman, will receive $2.3 billion in dividends over the year from the 36.7 per cent stake he and his family companies own.

Fortescue’s ore received an average of $US99.8 a tonne for the year, down 26 per cent, to produce $24.7 million a day in net profit after tax. The miner finished the year with a net debt of $US0.9 billion, with $US5.5 billion in cash offset by gross debt of $US6.1 billion.

Fortescue expects to ship between 187 and 192 million tonnes of iron ore in the 2023 financial year, including about one million tonnes from the troubled Iron Bridge magnetite project.

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Outgoing chief executive officer Elizabeth Gaines said Fortescue was accelerating its transition to a vertically integrated green energy and resources company.

Fortescue green energy arm Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), which is allocated 10 per cent of net profit after tax, has $US1.1 billion of unutilised committed capital. It plans to spend between about $US100 million on capital expenditures and $US600 to $700 million on operating costs this financial year.

In the 2022 financial year, FFI spent US$148 million in capital expenditure and US$386 million in operating expenditure.