LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Anglo American plc (AAUKY.PK, AAL.L) reported Thursday that its first-half profit attributable to equity shareholders decreased 75 percent to $471 million from last year's $1.88 billion.
Earnings per share dropped 74 percent to $0.38 from $1.48 a year ago.
Underlying earnings fell to $886 million from prior year's $2.01 billion. Underlying earnings per share were $0.72, compared to $1.58 a year ago.
Group underlying EBITDA decreased 39 percent to $3.4 billion. The Group Mining EBITDA margin was at 38 percent, lower than last year's 46 percent.
The company noted that the volume impact of Covid-19 related disruption to production and the supply chain and the impact of reduced diamond demand decreased underlying EBITDA by $1.1 billion.
Revenue fell 16 percent to $12.47 billion from $14.77 billion a year ago.
The company reported an overall decrease in production of 11 percent on a copper equivalent basis.
The Covid-19 lockdowns across southern Africa affected production at PGMs, De Beers, Kumba and Thermal Coal. Operations across the company continued to increase to around 90 percent of production capacity by the end of June.
De Beers' rough diamond production decreased 27 percent to 11.3 million carats. Copper production decreased 2 percent to 313,900 tonnes.
Group copper equivalent unit costs decreased 4 percent in US dollar terms, largely due to weaker producer currencies, partially offset by the lower production.
Further, the Board has proposed a dividend of $ 0.28 per share for the period to June 30, down from last year's $0.62 per share.
Looking ahead, for De Beers, the company said the current market outlook is highly uncertain mainly owing to the possibility of a second wave of Covid-19 infections.
In the longer term, the outlook for the diamond sector remains positive. Production guidance remains unchanged at 25-27 million carats.
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