Ferrexpo dividend announcement lifts shares

Shares in FTSE 250 miner Ferrexpo (LON:FXPO) climbed by 2.48% to 364p (as of 13:45 GMT) after it reported a 13% increase in revenues for the year ended 31st December. Underlying EBITDA was also up by 46% and management have proposed the payment of an additional special dividend of 39.6 US cents.

CEO Lucio Genovese commented: “There is no doubt that the year 2020 was one that will be remembered as a difficult time for communities around the world. The safety and wellbeing of our workforce has always been, and will continue to be, of paramount importance to Ferrexpo, an aspect that has been highlighted by the global pandemic. In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, we acted swiftly, setting up a dedicated COVID-19 Response Fund in March 2020, approving US$2.5 million for supporting local communities, in addition to taking significant measures to protect our workforce. At the peak of the first global wave of the virus, 3,000 of our employees at our operations were working remotely, helping us to achieve social distancing for those that could not work remotely, with significant measures implemented for those that remained on site.

“[…] Although COVID-19 caused disruption to global iron ore demand patterns, our central geographic location between Europe and Asia, coupled with flexibility our logistics capacity, enabled us to efficiently pivot towards China in 2020, as it quickly emerged from the pandemic with a strong growth focus on metals. The resultant rise in iron ore prices, coupled with the Group’s increase in production and cost control, has driven the strong financial performance for the Group in 2020.

“[…] Despite the continued effects of the pandemic, Ferrexpo will continue to invest in both our assets and our people, produce high quality iron ore products for the global steel industry, and operate a business model that provides sustainability, growth and returns to shareholders.“