PA Portfolio: Is the outlook for miners improving?

Alan Custis, portfolio manager, Lazard UK equity team The market has been slow to pick up on factors such as the recent change of ownership at three of the four big miners. Expansionary decisions taken by previous management at those companies are being overturned and the focus now is on the delivery of cashflow and dividends to shareholders. BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are expected to yield 4.4% and just over 4% respectively in 2014 - both premium yields to the market. Also, with the likes of Vodafone effectively cutting its dividend payment by 50%, companies such as BHP, which have gr...