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London - Anglo American [JSE:AGL], which is seeking to turnaround its business to withstand a collapse in commodity prices, said first-half profit dropped 23%. Its net debt declined to $11.7bn.
Underlying earnings for the six months through June fell to $698m from $904m a year earlier, the London-based company said in a statement on Thursday.
Excluding some items, earnings per share declined to 54 cents, beating the 26-cent average of six analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Anglo wants to cut debt to below $10bn by year-end, from $12.9bn in December, to reassure investors it can survive lower raw-material prices.
The century-old firm plans to sell more than half of its mines and exit iron ore and coal to focus on top assets, diamonds, platinum and copper. The stock has more than doubled this year and is the best performer in the UK’s FTSE 100 Index.
Anglo, once South Africa’s biggest company, has said it will raise more than $3bn from asset sales this year to help meet the debt target.
In April, the miner agreed to sell its Brazilian niobium and phosphate unit to China Molybdenum Company for $1.5bn and is in talks to offload coal mines in Australia.
The shares closed at 799.2 pence in London on Wednesday and reached a one-year high on July 13. The stock slid 75% last year as commodity prices tumbled by the most since 2008 amid a slowdown in China, the top consumer.
The company reported a first-half net loss of $813m, while sales fell 20% to $10.6bn.
