Freeport in battle against metal rout
FREEPORT-McMoRan extended spending and production cutbacks as the biggest publicly traded copper producer battles to preserve cash in a deepening commodity meltdown. Shares gained.
The measures included lowering expenditures at its energy operations, additional curtailments in copper and molybdenum output and the suspension of its common stock dividend, it said yesterday.
Freeport becomes the second big miner in two days to halt dividends and downsize operations after Anglo American said on Tuesday it planned to shed assets to stay afloat with prices showing no signs of a recovery from the lowest levels in six years.
Freeport is being further squeezed by oil’s more than 60 percent plunge from a peak last year.
The firm’s latest efforts follow cutbacks announced in August, the same month activist investor Carl Icahn said he intended to put pressure on the company to cut costs, rein in executive compensation and shrink high-cost production.
In October, Freeport reported its fourth consecutivequarterly loss after recording a $3.5 billion (R51bn) net charge tied to the oil and gas division.