ANGLO AMERICAN (AAL)
2.039,00 GBp
+1,29% | +26,00
15/02/2013 17:35
Anglo American dans le rouge
Le groupe minier britannique a bouclé l’année 2012 sur une perte de 1,5 milliard de dollars en raison d’importantes dépréciations liées à un projet de minerai de fer au Brésil.
Anglo American a réduit la valeur comptable du projet Minas-Rio de pas moins de 4,6 milliards de dollars à la suite d’une sixième révision à la hausse des coûts de développement de ce gisement de minerai de fer à 8,8 milliards de dollars.
Hors éléments non-récurrents, le groupe minier affiche toutefois également un bénéfice net en chute de 54% à 2,84 milliards de dollars, soit 2,26 dollars par action, en raison de la baisse du prix des matières premières vendues, de la hausse des coûts et des multiples grèves dans ses importantes mines en Afrique du Sud.
Le titre progressait toutefois en Bourse Londres, les analystes ayant craint un plongeon plus important encore des profits et les investisseurs saluant la perspective de meilleurs chiffres en 2013. En signe de confiance, le management a d’ailleurs décidé de relever le dividende de 15% à 0,53 dollar par action.
Cédric Boitte
Last updated: February 15, 2013 12:12 pm
Anglo American slumps to full-year loss
Cynthia Carroll, the outgoing chief executive of Anglo American, struck a defiant tone as the FTSE 100 mining company reported its first annual loss since listing in London more than a decade ago.
Falling commodity prices and a $4.9bn impairment charge at its troubled Minas-Rio iron ore project in Brazil saw Anglo swing from a $10.8bn pre-tax profit in 2011 to a loss of $239m last year.
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IN MINING
However, Ms Carroll said she felt “very good” about her swan song results as she prepares to hand over to Mark Cutifani, the head of AngloGold Ashanti, the South African-based gold producer, in April.
“It’s about short-term pain for long-term gain,” she said. “We’ve continued to invest where others have cut capital expenditure on major projects and the benefit of that has really come through…we delivered record production in many of our businesses.”
Ms Carroll said that lower commodity prices, higher input costs and labour unrest saw Anglo’s operating profit fall to $5.4bn before impairments and one-off costs from $9.6bn the previous year.
The full-year figures were also affected by $600m of wage inflation, according to the company.
Anglo took a total of $6.2bn impairments for the 12 months to December 31, including the Brazil writedown and additional impairments at its South African platinum assets, where waves of wildcat strikes affected production.
“The mining industry continues to face significant hurdles, and the impact of these coupled with our own company-specific challenges affected our performance in 2012,” said Ms Carroll. “While we are clearly disappointed with the writedown on the [Minas Rio] project, we remain confident of the quality, size and expansion potential of what is one of the world’s largest undeveloped resources.”
Revenues fell from $30.5bn to $28.7bn while operating costs rose from $21.1bn the previous year to $30.4bn. The diluted loss per share was $1.19, down from earnings of $4.89 in 2011.
Anglo, which reported net debt of $8.6bn, proposed to raise the final dividend by 15 per cent to 53 cents, bringing total payout for the year to 85 cents, also up 15 per cent.
Albert Minassian, an analyst at Investec, said the dividend rise was welcome but questions remained about Anglo’s lossmaking platinum division in particular.
“The dividend is one area where they can give a signal of hope – analysts had already adjusted their expectations downwards so the results are in line,” he said. “The Minas Rio impairment doesn’t bother me because its non-cash but the losses in the platinum business is a big task for the company ahead.”
Anglo listed in London in 1999 and US-born Ms Carroll took over as chief executive eight years later as the first non-South African and female chief executive of the company. However, in October she announced her resignation against a backdrop of pressure from shareholders over Anglo’s performance.
The mining sector has endured a tumultuous 2012, beset with industrial action, as well as cuts to investment plans and the shelving of ambitious projects.
Anglo’s fall into the red follows similarly gloomy results from rival Rio Tinto, which on Thursday reported its biggest loss to date, weighed down by $14.4bn of impairments and the drop in commodity prices.
Anglo shares rose 1.64 per cent to £20.46p.
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