Glencore Profits Hit By Weak Commodity Prices

Commodities trading giant Glencore has blamed weak raw materials prices for a drop in net profit in the first half of the year.

The firm, which is close to sealing a takeover deal with Xstrata, said a sluggish world economy was behind a 15% fall in commodity prices.

Net profit, excluding one-off items, fell 26% to $1.8bn (£1.1bn) from a year earlier, it said in a statement.

Revenue rose 17% to $108bn in the same period from $92bn year on year.

Glencore buys and sells metals, crops and fuels in the financial markets and invests in mining companies.

“Financial markets were relatively optimistic entering 2012, following the sovereign debt-related challenges experienced during the first half of 2011,” said Glencore chief executive Ivan Glasenberg.

“This optimism generally faded as the half progressed and, with it, expectations for economic growth and commodity prices. Concerns over how precisely the European situation would and could be resolved have continued to erode global risk appetite,” he added.

Xstrata bid

Along with political uncertainty in the world’s two largest economies, China and US, because of elections, “these factors… are likely to continue to hinder the gradual process of underlying economic recovery following the 2008 financial crisis”.

He said he expected neither improvement in the overall market or economic conditions in the near future.

Meanwhile, the company is close to taking over Xstrata.

The Anglo-Swiss miner earlier this year agreed to a merger with Glencore, its largest shareholder. But the deal stalled in June after Qatar Holding, Xstrata’s second-largest shareholder, demanded better terms.

Xstrata shareholders are to vote on the deal on 7 September.

The merger plan, first announced in February, would create a company worth $90bn that can benefit from both extracting and selling commodities.

BBC