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Hard times, steady progress
After this year's AGMs, Sir Robert Wilson gave us his thoughts on Rio TInto's performance in 2002 and on the prospects ahead.

Did the year live up to your expectations?
Well, it was more a case of living down to them. At last year's AGM I said that we were cautious about the strength and pace of the recovery in the United States and that Europe and Japan were lagging behind the US in their respective economic cycles. On the brighter side, though, we expected that growth in China would provide some welcome support for our markets, particularly in iron ore and copper.

And that's pretty much how it how it turned out. Most of our markets were depressingly flat in 2002, the main exceptions being iron ore and gold.

So it was a rather lacklustre year?
Far from it! Despite generally dull markets and some adverse exchange rate movements, we recorded the second best profit performance we've ever achieved. Our earnings, before exceptional items, were down by only eight per cent on the previous year's all time high. And our operating cash flow was a record US$3.74bn.

I would argue that achieving these results in the face of the sluggish market conditions provides the strongest possible evidence of Rio Tinto's underlying robustness. It's a reflection not only of the quality and diversity of our assets but also of the commitment of our employees to achieving exceptional levels of efficiency.



Hard times, steady progress After this year's AGMs, Sir Robert Wilson gave us his thoughts on Rio TInto's performance in 2002 and on the prospects ahead. Did the year live up to your expectations? Well, it was more a case of living down to them. At last year's AGM I said that we were cautious about the strength and pace of the recovery in the United States and that Europe and Japan were lagging behind the US in their respective economic cycles. On the brighter side, though, we expected that growth in China would provide some welcome support for our markets, particularly in iron ore and copper. And that's pretty much how it how it turned out. Most of our markets were depressingly flat in 2002, the main exceptions being iron ore and gold. So it was a rather lacklustre year? Far from it! Despite generally dull markets and some adverse exchange rate movements, we recorded the second best profit performance we've ever achieved. Our earnings, before exceptional items, were down by only eight per cent on the previous year's all time high. And our operating cash flow was a record US$3.74bn. I would argue that achieving these results in the face of the sluggish market conditions provides the strongest possible evidence of Rio Tinto's underlying robustness. It's a reflection not only of the quality and diversity of our assets but also of the commitment of our employees to achieving exceptional levels of efficiency.
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Review is published by Rio Tinto, 6 St James' Square, London SW1Y 4LD, England Telephone +44 (0)20 7930 2399 Editor: Cherry DeGeer