Glencore reports record profit of $5.77 billion

The Glencore mining and commodity-trading company has announced it has been able to increase its profit to a record figure of $5.77 billion over the course of 2017, up by 319% on the previous year. What is more, over this same period, it has been able to reduce its debt from $15.52 billion to $10.67 billion. Among other encouraging figures CEO Ivan Glasenberg was able to announce on Wednesday was that turnover had risen by 34% to as much as $205 billion.
 
Glasenberg put down the encouraging figures to the ongoing worldwide boom, enabling the Baar-based company to pass on $2.9 billion to shareholders and prompting a rise in the share price on the London Stock Exchange from £4.05 to £5.24.
 
What has helped the company to these figures is its focus on the electric vehicle market, particularly in China, where there has been a considerable rise in demand for cobalt, copper and nickel, all of which are needed in the production of batteries for these vehicles. Indeed, Glencore is the world’s largest provider of cobalt.
 
The company mines copper and nickel in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the by-product cobalt also emanating from there. However, the government of this African country has expressed the view that it has not benefited as much as it should have done from its own mineral wealth and therefore has plans to nationalise these mines in the long term, the prices for gold, copper and cobalt to be increased accordingly if sold to foreign commodity-trading companies. Not surprisingly, Glencore, which is actually the sole proprietor of the Mutanda copper and cobalt mine there, is against this move. Glasenberg said he hoped the those responsible in the Congo would respond “in a reasonable way” in this regard, as he felt this would actually help the country.