Strong market demand and operational resilience deliver underlying EBITDA of $12.1 billion

Financial highlights for the six months ended 30 June 2021

• Underlying EBITDA^* of $12.1 billion, driven by strong market demand and operational resilience
• Profit attributable to equity shareholders of $5.2 billion
• Net debt^* of $2.0 billion (0.1 x annualised underlying EBITDA), reflecting strong cash generation
• $4.1 billion shareholder return, reflecting capital discipline and commitment to return excess cash:
  • $2.1 billion interim dividend, equal to $1.71 per share, consistent with our 40% payout policy
  • $2.0 billion additional return: $1.0 billion special dividend and $1.0 billion share buyback
• Exit from thermal coal operations: Thungela demerger completed and sale of Cerrejón interest announced

Mark Cutifani, Chief Executive of Anglo American, said:

“The first six months of 2021 have seen strong demand and prices for many of our products as economies begin to recoup lost ground, spurred by stimulus measures across the major economies. The platinum group metals and copper – essential to the global decarbonisation imperative as we electrify transport and harness clean, renewable energy – and premium quality iron ore for greener steelmaking, supported by an improving market for diamonds, all contributed to a record half year financial performance, generating underlying EBITDA of $12.1 billion.

“Against a backdrop of ongoing Covid hardships in many countries, our commitment to do everything we can to help protect our people and communities stands firm. It is in this spirit that we have decided to make a special contribution of $100 million to our Anglo American Foundation to fund more ambitious and longer term health, social and environmental projects, aligned with our Sustainable Mining Plan areas of focus, as we look ahead to the post-pandemic recovery phase. With widespread health protocols in place across our operations, workplace safety has never been higher on our agenda. Building on our considerable improvements in recent years, I’m pleased to report no fatal incidents in the first half of this year.

“The resilience of our business through a tough operating environment, supported by the prevailing market conditions, increased our mining EBITDA margin^* to 61%. Attributable free cash flow^* of $5.4 billion helped reduce net debt to just 0.1 x annualised underlying EBITDA at the end of June. In line with our commitment to disciplined capital allocation, and in addition to our established 40% dividend payout, we will return an additional $2 billion to shareholders, split equally between a special cash dividend and a share buyback, recognising the different preferences of our shareholders, amounting to a $4.1 billion total cash return for the half year.

“Our balanced investment programme is driving margin-enhancing volume growth of 20% over the next three years, including copper production from Quellaveco due to come on stream in 2022, and growth of 25–35% in the medium term. Our business is increasingly geared towards providing the future-enabling metals and minerals for a low carbon economy and to meet global consumer demand trends. Combined with our commitment to carbon neutrality across our operations by 2040, we are working to meet the expectations of our full breadth of stakeholders.”

_{(1) The comparative figure for the six months ended 30 June 2020 has been restated. See note 2 to the Condensed financial statements for further details.}

_{Terms with this symbol ^* are defined as Alternative Performance Measures (APMs). For more information refer to page 77.}

View full PDF of this press release (1.4MB, opens in a new window)