Commodity price surge: Glencore shareholders spy £2bn payday
Glencore’s shareholders are looking at an around £2bn payday this year after commodity price surges hoisted the mining giant to a record performance in the past six months.
Revenue hit £67.4bn in the first half of the year, up by some £16.3bn in comparison with the first half of 2020.
The London-listed mining and trading company joined rivals Rio Tinto and Anglo American in declaring hefty shareholder cheque after record half-year profits.
Shares opened lower this morning, down 0.6 per cent at 327.2p per share.
Its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 79 per cent to £6.2bn, a new record for the group.
The group stated a dividend of £2bn for this year, which includes a special dividend of 0.02p per share to be paid in September.
Glencore is also set to buy back $650m in shares, the group said in a statement.
“Following Covid-19’s severe global impacts in early 2020, the subsequent economic recovery has seen prices of most of our commodities surging to multi-year highs amid accelerating demand and lingering supply constraints,” CEO Gary Nagle said.
“Fiscal and monetary stimulus, successful vaccine roll-outs and increasing momentum in relation to the decarbonisation of energy systems should continue to underpin sector sentiment going forward.”
The group’s earnings per share swung from a loss of 14p per share in the same period last year but now pulls in 0.07p a share.