LONDON (Reuters) – Miner and trader Glencore (GLEN.L) said on Tuesday its battery minerals, especially cobalt, should spur profit in 2017 and beyond in an update for investors that also promised to grow the business, especially through partnerships.
It said its marketing, or trading, division’s 2017 EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) would be at the top end of its previous guidance at $2.8 billion, steady from 2016 but effectively an increase given that Glencore sold half of its agriculture business last year.
The company also issued full-year 2018 overall EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) guidance of $16.2 billion, slightly below some analysts forecasts, but higher than Glencore’s guidance for full-year profit this year of $15 billion.
After recovering from a deep commodities crash in 2015, Glencore has led the mining sector higher, outperforming its peers this year. Shares eased one percent on Tuesday, but have risen in value by more than a quarter this year, more than the three other leading diversified majors.
Despite this, Glencore says it will remain cautious and curb spending to keep its net debt to EBITDA ratio, a measure of health in the capital intensive mining sector, below 2.
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