Despite a 25% drop in revenue for the 2016 financial year, diversified mining major South32 announced on Thursday that it would pay an inaugural shareholder dividend of $0.01 a share, reflecting the company’s belief in its operations and the flexibility of its balance sheet. With revenue down from $7.74-million in 2015 to $5.81-million in 2016, the relatively new BHP Billiton spin-off company recorded a net loss of $1.6-billion in the 12 months to June 30, which it attributed to noncash impairment-related charges of $1.7-billion recorded in the December 2015 half year.
