Anglo American 2020 Profit Fell 41%; 2nd Half Recovery Beats Expectations

By Jaime Llinares Taboada

Anglo American PLC on Thursday reported that its profit fell 41% in 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted its operations especially in the first half of the year.

The FTSE 100 multinational mining company made a net profit of $2.09 billion last year down from $3.55 billion in 2019.

Underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization declined 2% to $9.80 billion but was above the market consensus of $9.39 billion--taken from Vuma and based on nine analysts' forecasts. This suggests a strong recovery in the second half of the year, as underlying Ebitda had fallen 39% in the six months to June.

"The resilience of our diversified business, following the operational disruptions of the first half and benefiting from strong metals prices in the latter months, generated underlying Ebitda of $9.8 billion, with an increased mining Ebitda margin of 43%," Chief Executive Mark Cutifani said.

Anglo American declared a final dividend of $0.72 a share, bringing the full-year payment to $1.00--down from $1.09 in 2019.

Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at [e-mail]; @JaimeLlinaresT

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 25, 2021 02:34 ET (07:34 GMT)

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