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London - A rally in Anglo American [JSE:AGL] pushed its stock above £10 for the first time in more than a year after a rebound in commodity prices and cuts in its debt brought the century-old mining company back from the brink.
Anglo gained as much as 1.5% to 1 010.50 pence a share, the highest since June 2015. The stock has more than trebled this year, the best performer in the UK’s benchmark FTSE 100 Index.
That’s a dramatic transformation from the record low hit in January when the shares traded at 215.55 pence. Since then, the company has unveiled a turnaround plan that would see it sell half its mines, and exit coal and iron ore to focus on more profitable diamond, platinum and copper operations.
The company has reduced its debt to $10.3bn, putting it within touching distance of its goal to cut borrowings below $10bn by the end of the year.
Last week it got $1.7bn from the completion of the sale of its niobium and phosphate unit. On Thursday, Moody’s Investors Service raised Anglo’s credit rating on its debt reductions and as commodity prices rebounded.
Coking coal prices have doubled this year while thermal coal and iron ore have also rallied.
Such gains have benefited other miners such as Glencore, which has more than doubled this year and last month traded above 200 pence a share for the first time since 2015.
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