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SYDNEY, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Fortescue Metals has seen their credit rating upgraded by ratings agency Moody's on Friday, following their efforts to curb their costs and pay down their debt.
Last month Fortescue repaid 1 billion U.S. dollars of debt, after strong iron ore prices freed up capital.
The mining powerhouse found itself at debt highs of 13 billion U.S. dollars back in 2013, but have since brought back their gross debt to 6 billion U.S. dollars.
Even as the credit rating agency expects the iron ore price market to remain "volatile", Moody's vice president Matthew Moore is confident that Fortescue will be able to maintain their solid performance.
"Fortescue's initiatives to reduce breakeven costs and debt balances, combined with the prospects for further debt reduction, improve its ability to manage this volatility and maintain solid metrics for the rating." Moore said.
This is the second time that Fortescue has had their credit rating improved by Moody's since August 2016, and comes on the heels of being similarly upgraded by rival credit rating agency S&P in December.
