Anglo Above 10 Pounds as Century-Old Miner Back From Brink

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — A rally in Anglo American Plc pushed its stock above 10 pounds 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 3.4 percent to 1,029 pence a share, the highest since June 2015. The stock has more than tripled this year, the best performer in the U.K.’s benchmark FTSE 100 Index.

The stock hit a record-low 215.55 pence in January. 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 producer has reduced its debt to $10.3 billion, putting it within touching distance of its goal to cut borrowings below $10 billion by the end of the year.

“Further asset sales and meaningful consensus mark-to-market upgrades should support the share price in the near term,” Barclays Plc said in a note to investors Tuesday.

Price Gains
Last week, Anglo got $1.7 billion 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.

Anglo also today said its De Beers unit sold $485 million of diamonds at its September offering. While this was the smallest sale of the year so far, it exceed the company’s expectations during a seasonally slow period for the industry.

“A smaller sale was to be expected given the diamond market is well supplied and is entering the slower demand season for rough,” Des Kilalea, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note Tuesday.

Gains in commodity prices have benefited other miners such as Glencore Plc, which has more than doubled this year and last month traded above 200 pence a share for the first time since 2015. Anglo has also been buoyed by a wider U.K. stock rally, with the FTSE 100 hitting a record high Tuesday.

Source: Bloomberg Business News