Anglo American Miner Swings Back Into Annual Profit

LONDON, , (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Feb, 2017 ) - Anglo American returned to profit in 2016, thanks to recovering iron ore and coal prices alongside reduced costs and asset sales, the mining group revealed Tuesday.

Net profit came in at $1.6 billion (1.5 billion Euros) compared with a loss after tax of $5.62 billion in 2015, Anglo said in a statement. Group revenue rose 1.0 percent to $23.14 billion, with Anglo benefitting also from the Dollar's rally against the South African rand.

"Despite our significant progress... the balance sheet must be able to withstand expected price volatility in the short to medium term," said chief executive Mark Cutifani. He added that Anglo had reduced net debt by a third to $8.5 billion.

The group's diamond business De Beers meanwhile enjoyed a 42-percent rise in underlying profits to $1.4 billion.

"The high quality assets across our De Beers, platinum group metals and copper businesses underpin our positions in those respective markets and are the cornerstone of a more resilient and competitive Anglo American, through the economic and commodity price cycle," said Cutifani.

"In addition, we continue to benefit from the performance of a number of other world class assets across the bulk commodities of iron ore and coal, as well as nickel." He added: "While we saw strong interest in a number of the major assets for which we held sale processes during 2016 to further strengthen our financial position, we adhered to our strict value thresholds and chose not to transact." Also Tuesday, the world's biggest miner BHP Billiton reported a sharp rebound in half-yearly profits on the back of soaring iron ore prices and improved productivity.