Rio Tinto profits to halve

Rio Tinto is set to reveal a fall in underlying profits from ?3.3bn to ?1.6bn when it unveils half-year results on Thursday. But analysts will be more concerned about efforts by the Anglo-Australian mining giant to reduce its debt mountain. In June, Rio walked away from a ?12.3bn cash injection from state-owned Chinese aluminium producer Chinalco in favour of a ?9.4bn rights issue and an iron ore joint venture with rival BHP Billiton. Tom Albanese, Rio's chief executive, said last year that he intended to pay down ?5.4bn of debt this year and ?6bn by the end of 2010. Albanese is expected this week to reveal that group debt has fallen from ?23bn to ?14bn and that very little has to be paid down. This will be a huge relief to the group's beleaguered shareholders, many of whom battled for months to prevent Albanese agreeing a deal with the Chinese because it ignored their pre-emption rights. Albanese is also likely to update investors on plans to float Cloud Peak Energy, its US coal business, which could raise ?605m. source:www.thisismoney.co.uk