Glencore Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg hailed the group’s results as its “strongest on record” on Wednesday, bolstered by a recovery on commodity markets and said it had the assets to meet future demand including from electric vehicles.
In line with other miners reporting this month, Glasenberg said there were “emerging inflationary pressures,” but they had been offset so far by strong prices for byproducts, such as cobalt, and Glencore was able to contain costs.
Glencore’s shares rose around 4 percent by 1045 GMT, outperforming the broader index.
After outstripping its rivals last year, Glencore’s share price has lagged in 2018, hit by concerns about instability in Democratic Republic of Congo where it has major operations.
The mining and trading company posted full-year overall adjusted profit of $14.76 billion.
Glencore’s marketing, or trading business, rose 3 percent to exceed $3 billion for the first time since 2008. It said in December its 2017 marketing EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) would be above $2.8 billion.
For the coming year, its marketing guidance is for a range of $2.2-3.2 billion, which Glencore’s Chief Financial Officer Steven Kalmin said was “an all seasons” range, mindful of price crashes of the past.
Inflationary pressures were linked to higher commodity prices and currency effects, but were “nowhere near where they were in 2007-8 when we were having to scramble to get talent,” he said.
Now it has recovered from the 2015-16 commodity downturn, which hit it harder than its peers, Glencore says it will avoid reckless deals, buying only when the right opportunities arise, while limiting debt and rewarding shareholders.
It recommended a 2018 distribution payout of $2.9 billion or $0.20/share, in two equal payments. That is above the minimum set out in the company’s policy of $1 billion plus 25 percent of industrial cash flows.
Source: Reuters
