Anglo American mining big profits -UPDATE

17th Feb 2012 07:04

Mining giant Anglo American notched up record underlying earnings after delivering three major mining projects on or ahead of schedule in 2011.Group revenue including associate companies climbed 11% to $36.5bn from $32.9bn, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also moved up 11% to a record level of $13.3bn from $12.0bn.Profit before tax, which was subject to a number of one-off items, fell slightly to $10.8bn from $10.9bn the year before.The final dividend has been hiked by 15% to 46 cents, making the full year dividend 74 cents, up 14% on 2010's pay-out.Anglo saw 17 deaths through the year, of those 12 came in the Platinum division which is described as "a very disappointing performance".Across the divisions, most saw strong gains in operating profit on the back of high commodity prices at the beginning of the year. Iron Ore and Manganese, Metallurgical Coal and Diamonds were all strong performers.There were weaker performances from Nickel, which was around 40% down due to exploration expenditure. Copper had bad year, with operating profit down 13% on 2010, as a result of lower sales volumes and higher operating cost.Commenting on the company's prospects the group's Chief Executive Cynthia Carroll said long-term supply constraints, the convergence of living standards and urbanisation would continue to make Anglo American an attractive proposition.Analysts at Credit Suisse, for their part, have given the following opinion as regards the company´s results, "AAL delivered EBIT of $11.1bn vs. Credit Suisse of $11.3bn (consensus at $11.2bn). Subsidiaries Amplats, Kumba and De Beers have already reported ahead of the numbers. Versus our forecasts met coal and nickel were light and thermal coal higher. 'Corporate costs' were a benefit vs. an expected cost. Underlying EPS came in at $5.06 vs. Credit Suisse at $4.71 and consensus of $4.78 driven by lower MI charge, low finance costs & lower tax. "Capital allocation: Dividend in line at 74c (Credit Suisse: 73c) however there was no special - this may come as a slight disappointment although we do not believe many thought a special was coming given De Beers $5.1bn outflow. Net debt was reported at $1.4bn (Credit Suisse $1.2bn)." The shares edged up by 1.4%, or 36.5p, to 2680.5p in reaction to the results.BS