Glencore Reviewing London Listing; Plans $2.2 Billion in Shareholder Returns -- Update

By Adam Whittaker

Commodities giant Glencore said it is reviewing its London listing as it reported a fall in 2024 earnings, but will return around $2.2 billion to shareholders.

The company said Wednesday that the optimal location for its primary listing remains under study. The London Stock Exchange has been suffering from a number of high-profile delistings, including chip maker Arm Holdings and betting company Flutter Entertainment which chose New York over the U.K., and a preference amongst company founders to list in the U.S. in search of higher valuations.

Glencore's shares are down nearly 13% over the past year and switching to the U.S. would be a positive catalyst, Jefferies analysts Christopher LaFemina and Patricia Hove wrote in a note to clients.

The listing review comes as the company's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell 16% to $14.36 billion on lower coal prices. This missed analysts' expectations of $14.61 billion, according to a consensus compiled by Visible Alpha.

Its industrial activities division reported earnings of $10.57 billion while its marketing activities unit reported earnings of $3.79 billion.

Glencore said its results reflect the progressive normalization of energy markets after the severe disruptions seen over 2022-23 during the start of the Russian-Ukraine conflict.

A material decline in thermal coal and gas prices materially dragged on its results but the market for copper and zinc concentrates was favorable, the miner said.

Glencore's shares fell nearly 7% on the results to 329.25 pence in morning trade.

The mining and trading giant said it plans to return around $2.2 billion to shareholders, despite booking impairments worth $5.3 billion, including at its South African coal operations, the company said.

The miner said it will recommend a base dividend of $0.10 a share and announced it would restart buybacks at $1 billion, which it expects to complete before early August. The miner made no buyback announcement alongside its 2023 results as it used cash to pay for its $6.93 billion purchase of Elk Valley Resources.

The impairments caused the miner to swing to $1.63 billion net loss from $4.28 billion in profit a year earlier.

Revenue rose 6% on year to $230.94 billion, compared with $232.93 billion analysts had expected.

Write to Adam Whittaker at adam.whittaker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 19, 2025 04:41 ET (09:41 GMT)

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