Glencore’s 2012 profit hit by lower commodities prices

Glencore’s net income fell by a quarter last year due to lower prices for commodities, but it made more money from trading so did not suffer as much as some rivals.

That modest drop was important as Glencore is just a month away from its takeover of miner Xstrata – which will make it the world’s fourth-largest diversified mining company.

The company said nothing about what assets it might dispose of after the merger.

The market has been keenly awaiting a roadmap for the combined Glencore-Xstrata and had hoped that Glencore would expand on its post-takeover strategy as it announced the latest results.

Glencore’s net income fell 25 percent to $3.06 billion (2.35 billion euros), which was in line with expectations.

Xstrata, reporting separately from Glencore for what should be the last time before the two merge, wrote down the value of nickel, zinc and platinum assets, dragging its net profit almost 80 percent lower.

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