Higher commodity prices lift Anglo American as debt halved

Higher commodity and copper prices provided a boost for Anglo American as the miner reported a 45% jump in full year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to $8.8bn.

The company said it had halved net debt to $4.5bn in 2017 and declared a final dividend of 54 cents a share for a total of $1.02 a share.

Across the group, production increased by 5% on a copper equivalent basis, driven by improved performances at De Beers, up 22%, Kumba Iron Ore, 8%, and Iron Ore Brazil, 4%, partly offset by a 4% fall in coal production.

Chief executive Mark Cutifani said Anglo had "exceeded our cost and volume improvement target for the year, achieving $1.1bn of underlying EBITDA benefit”.

“While we have already driven a material operational turnaround, we believe there is significant additional upside within the business both through further operating gains and from selected organic growth options,” he said.

“As part of how we run the business, we are therefore targeting an additional $3bn-4bn annual run-rate improvement by 2022 from production volumes, productivity improvements and cost reductions.”