Global credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has affirmed global iron ore miner Rio Tinto's credit rating at 'A-', while revising its outlook to stable from negative.
The ratings affirmation reflects the measures (productivity optimization, capital expenditure cuts and a flexible dividend policy) Rio Tinto has taken to improve its credit profile since the start of the year. These have been further enhanced by the recently announced $5 billion productivity improvements.
On the other hand, the outlook revision reflects the positive momentum in the commodities markets. Fitch now believes that prices have bottomed out in most commodity sectors from the lows in February 2016. The measures taken by the company, together with the improvement in commodity markets, mean that the company's credit metrics are now expected to be better than previously expected for 2016.