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Glencore Plc surprised investors with a bigger dividend on the back of surging profit and commodity prices, but is still stockpiling cash as dry powder for future deals.
“We’re generating $10 billion of free cash flow on current commodity prices,” said Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg. “There is room if and when we want to do any acquisitions.”
Glencore nearly tripled its dividend payout to $2.9 billion and reported full-year results largely in line with expectations. The results leave Glasenberg well positioned to continue doing what he knows best — deals. While competitors such as Rio Tinto Group shied away from dealmaking last year, Glencore announced acquisitions worth more than $4 billion in copper, oil, zinc and coal.
The mining and trading company, meanwhile, posted full-year overall adjusted profit of $14.76 billion. Glencore is one Sudbury’s biggest employers. The company’s Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations (known as Sudbury INO) activities include exploration, Fraser Mine, Nickel Rim South Mine, Strathcona Mill and Sudbury Smelter.
The company has been mining nickel-copper ores in the Sudbury area since 1928. Nickel and copper are the primary metals, but cobalt and precious metals, such as gold, silver, platinum and palladium are also produced.
Sudbury INO employs about 1,300 permanent employees.
In lights of its strong financial outlook, Glencore stock added 3.9 percent to 399.3 pence as of 9:42 a.m. in London, the biggest intraday gain since August. In the past year, it’s up 22 percent.
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