Anglo American Reports $672m Loss
July 28, 24
(IDEX Online) - Anglo American, parent company of De Beers, has announced a net loss of $672m for the first half of this year, down from a net profit of $1.26bn in the same period last year.
The troubled mining corporation fought off a takeover bid from Australian rival BHP earlier this year, around the same time it revealed plans to sell off De Beers, the loss-making diamond company for which it paid $5.1bn in 2012 (to acquire a controlling interest).
As of 30 June, Anglo's net debt stood at $11.1bn, according to its Interim Results published last Thursday (25 July). Revenue was down 8 per cent to $14.5bn.
"We are moving at pace to create a much more agile and structurally profitable mining company focused on our exceptional quality copper and premium iron ore businesses, which both continue to perform very strongly, while maintaining our growth optionality in crop nutrients," said Anglo chief executive Duncan Wanblad (pictured).
Anglo said in May that it will sell or demerge both its diamond and platinum operations (as well as nickel and steelmaking coal) to focus on copper and other more profitable parts of its business. Wanblad has indicated that the De Beers sell-off could take 18 to 24 months.