Fitch revises Rio Tinto to positive

Fitch Ratings said it revised Rio Tinto plc/Rio Tinto Ltd.'s outlook to positive from stable and affirmed the long-term issuer default rating at A-.

Fitch said the outlook revision is supported by Rio Tinto’s significant absolute debt reduction, with gross debt falling by $7.8 billion between end-2015 and June 30, 2017.

“We now expect FFO adjusted gross leverage to decline below our upgrade trigger of 1.5x by year-end 2017,” the agency said in a news release.

“In what is forecast to be a generally stronger commodity price environment, our base case assumes that free cash flow allocated to shareholder returns will be matched by balance-sheet strengthening and capital expenditure on high-value projects.”

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