Anglo American Reports Soaring 2004 Profits
February 23, 05
Anglo American Plc, one of the largest mining companies in the world, reported a 59 percent jump in 2004 headline earnings to $2.689 billion as
Anglo American's total profit for the year soared 83 percent to $2.913 billion.
Turnover including share of joint ventures and associates rose 27.6 percent to $31.795 billion.
The company, which owns 45 percent of De Beers, said diamonds recorded headline earnings of $381 million last year compared to $386 million in 2003, a fall to 14 percent of the group's total headline earnings from 23 percent in 2003.
Total operating profit in the diamonds category, however, rose to $586 million last year from $562 million in 2003.
Diamonds accounted for $3.177 billion of Anglo American's total turnover last year of $31.795 billion compared with $2.967 billion in 2003 of total turnover of $24.909 billion.
De Beers reported at the start of February that its Diamond Trading Company sold $5.695 billion worth of rough diamonds last year. However, De Beers had additional diamond sales of $512 million, bringing total diamond sales to $6.207 billion, much higher than forecast by many analysts.
Meanwhile, Anglo American clearly invested a great deal of thought into streamlining, reporting cost savings and efficiencies up 65 percent at $554 million.
Anglo American joins the world's biggest miner BHP Billiton and second-largest miner Rio Tinto in publishing strong results. BHP last week announced its first-half profit more than doubled, while Rio Tinto reported a 66 percent rise in second-half earnings earlier this month.
Anglo controls AngloGold Ashanti Ltd, the second-largest producer of gold in the world, and Anglo American Platinum Corp, the largest miner of platinum.
"The continued strength of the South African rand, which rose 15 percent against the U.S. dollar, remained a challenge for our South African operations, impacting our gold and platinum businesses in particular," said Chief Executive Tony Trahar.
Although gold and platinum prices have rose last year, the increases have been offset by the rand's advance against the dollar. Anglo pays most costs at its South African mines in rand and sells the precious metals in dollars.