Anglo American Beat Estimates for Fiscal Year Net Profit, Underlying Ebitda -- Earnings Review

By Oliver Griffin

Anglo American PLC (AAL.LN) reported its full-year results for 2018 on Thursday. Here's how the results came in:

NET PROFIT: Anglo American reported net profit of $3.55 billion for the year ended Dec. 31, representing a 12% rise from $3.17 billion in the prior year. A consensus of 18 analysts provided by FactSet had forecast net profit of $2.8 billion.

UNDERLYING EBITDA: The company reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, stripping out certain one-off items of $9.16 billion, up from $8.82 billion in 2017. A consensus of 15 analysts compiled by Vuma forecast Anglo American's underlying Ebitda at $9.05 billion.

WHAT WE WATCHED:

-DIAMONDS: Anglo American's majority owned diamond-mining business De Beers saw underlying Ebitda fall 13% to $1.25 billion in the year. The company said the outlook for consumer diamond jewelry demand faces a number of challenges in 2019, including the risk of a potential intensification of U.S.-China trade tensions, the Chinese government's ability to rebalance economic growth toward consumption, and further exchange-rate volatility.

-MINAS-RIO: In April last year the company said it expected its Minas-Rio iron-ore business in Brazil to book an underlying Ebitda loss of between $300 million-$400 million. The total impact on underlying Ebitda due to the suspension of operations at Minas-Rio was $600 million.

Shares at 1343 GMT were down 1% at 2000.50 pence.

Write to Oliver Griffin at [e-mail]; @OliGGriffin

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 21, 2019 09:08 ET (14:08 GMT)

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