2015 was a grim year for mining company and commodity trader Glencore with profit down by almost a third as prices for copper, nickel, zinc, iron-ore and coal slumped to multi-year lows.
ADVERTISEMENTMining company and commodity trader Glencore has revealed that 2015 was a grim year with profit down by almost a third as prices for copper, nickel, zinc, iron-ore and coal slumped to multi-year lows.
As a result the Swiss-based group is to sell even more of its mines to reduce its debt which still stands at around 24 billion euros.
It is now looking at raising up to an additional 4.6 billion euros through asset sales this year. That is on top of the 1.47 billion euros worth of deals already agreed.
But despite the profit drop, Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg was upbeat saying he believes commodity prices have now reached their lowest.
The group’s trading division has assumed an increasingly important role as heavy losses on commodity markets has battered mining profits.
In 2015, that unit accounted for 31 percent of total core profit, up from 20 percent in 2013.
Here the details of #Glencore EBIT by industrial activities and marketing (aka, trading). #Oil trading did well pic.twitter.com/QZiJuCoGoF
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas2) March 1, 2016
