GLNCY Glencore Plc (PK)

--Glencore softened its full-year loss by achieving profit for the second half of 2020

--Adjusted Ebitda was almost in line with 2019, helped by a price recovery in the second half and the performance of the marketing business

--The company is resuming the dividend this year after meeting its debt reduction target

By Jaime Llinares Taboada

Glencore PLC on Tuesday reported a widened loss for 2020, but the group swung to a profit for the second half and confirmed the resumption of the dividend in 2021.

The FTSE 100 Anglo-Swiss mining-and-oil company booked a net loss of $1.90 billion for the whole year, widening from a $404 million loss in 2019. It was worse than a consensus forecast of a $1.73 billion net loss taken from FactSet and based on 13 analysts' estimates.

However, Glencore delivered a net profit of $697 million for the second half of the year, bouncing back from a $2.60 billion loss for the first half, as commodity prices improved. Glencore had booked impairment charges of $3.2 billion in the first half as a result of lower prices.

Adjusted Ebitda came in at $11.56 billion, slightly below the $11.60 billion in 2019, but well above the $10.69 billion market consensus, taken from Vuma and based on 12 analysts.

"A notable improvement was seen at our Katanga operation in the DRC, where its successful ramp-up lifted Africa copper Ebitda to $712 million," Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg said.

The marketing division helped maintain underlying performance broadly in line with 2019 levels despite the effects of the pandemic on operations and prices. Adjusted EBIT from the marketing business was $3.3 billion, 41% higher than a year earlier.

Mr. Glasenberg added that strong second half cash flows helped reduce net debt to $15.84 billion as at Dec. 31, meeting the company's deleveraging target.

Glencore is therefore resuming the dividend by recommending a distribution of $0.12 a share in 2021.

Glencore said in the summer that it wouldn't make any distribution to shareholders in 2020 in order to prioritize reducing net debt to below $16 billion.

Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at jaime.llinares@wsj.com; @JaimeLlinaresT

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 16, 2021 03:04 ET (08:04 GMT)

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