2007 Financial statements

Note 9 - Earnings per ordinary share

	2007 Earnings US$m	2007 Weighted average number of shares (millions)	2007 Per share amount (cents)	2006 Earnings US$m	2006 Weighted average number of shares (millions)	2006 Per share amount (cents)
Basic earnings per share attributable to ordinary shareholders of Rio Tinto	7,312	1,285.8	568.7	7,438	1,333.4	557.8
Effect of dilutive securities (share options) (c)	-	5.5	-	-	5.4	-
Diluted earnings per share attributable to ordinary shareholders of Rio Tinto	7,312	1,291.3	566.3	7,438	1,338.8	555.6
Underlying earnings per share attributable to ordinary shareholders (a)
- Basic	7,443	1,285.8	578.9	7,338	1,333.4	550.3
- Diluted	7,443	1,291.3	576.4	7,338	1,338.8	548.1


Notes	Expand
Underlying earnings per share is calculated from underlying earnings, detailed information on which is given in note 2. The weighted average number of shares is calculated as the average number of Rio Tinto plc shares outstanding not held as treasury shares of 1,000.1 million (2006: 1,047.7 million) plus the average number of Rio Tinto Limited shares outstanding not held by Rio Tinto plc of 285.7 million (2006: 285.7 million). For the purposes of calculating diluted earnings per share, the effect of dilutive securities is added to the weighted average number of shares described in (b) above. This effect is calculated under the treasury stock method.