LONDON July 30 (The Southern African Times) – Diversified miner Anglo American said on Thursday first- half profits fell 39% as coronavirus-related lockdowns hit production and it said it was halving its interim dividend.
The London-listed miner posted underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $3.4 billion for the six months to June 30, beating a consensus of $3 billion from nine analysts compiled by Vuma.
Anglo declared an interim dividend of 28 cents per share, down 55% from a year earlier but in line with its 40% payout policy.
“The year has been like nothing I have ever seen in my 43 years in the industry,” CEO Mark Cutifani said on a call.
This month, Anglo stuck to most of the full-year production targets it set in the spring after lockdowns hit its output of diamonds, iron ore, coal, platinum and palladium.
Anglo also suffered operational incidents at its platinum unit in South Africa and in its Australian metallurgical coal mine which were partially offset by a good performances in Brazilian iron ore and its Chilean copper operations.
