Glencore reveals $1bn share buyback as earnings increase 8pc
Glencore has revealed an eight per cent increase in adjusted earnings alongside plans to pay out up to $1bn of cash to shareholders through a share buyback programme.
The news means Glencore will return capital to investors before mining competitors BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, with the company saying the buyback will run to March 2015.
The big investor payout comes off the back of the $7bn sale of the Las Bambas mine in Peru in April, which contributed to healthy cash flow generation for the mining company in the first-half of the year, with funds from operations (FFO) up 15 per cent to $4.9bn. The sale of Las Bambas allowed Glencore to purchase Xstrata.
The company declared an interim dividend of $0.06 a share and said net debt at the period end was $37.6bn.
Ivan Glasberg, Glencore's chief executive officer, commented:
Glencore continued to make decisive progress in delivering on the potential created by the Xstrata acquisition over the first half of 2014.We remain the most diversified natural resources company by activity, commodity and geography, providing us with a stable operating platform as well as a high degree of optionality to underlying prices and bolt-on or brownfield development opportunities.