Cutifani turns company into UK’s worst performer

ANGLO American has overtaken Glencore in a race neither wants to win.

Radical cuts across Anglo American’s operations that chief executive Mark Cutifani says are aimed at delivering a “resilient” business, have so far turned the company into the year’s worst performer on the FTSE 100 index of major UK shares.

“Alarm bells will be ringing at Anglo headquarters this morning,” Yuen Low, a mining analyst at Shore Capital Stockbrokers, said in London. “They have taken drastic action but it may not be enough.”

Anglo has sunk 76 percent this year, narrowly beating Glencore’s 74 percent drop. While the broader industry has RBC Capital Markets in London. “It definitely adds to the challenges facing management at the moment, because the overall environment remains negative.”

Broda isn’t a bear. He suggests buying Glencore shares tumbled this year in the face of a Chinese economic slowdown, the two producers’ debt piles have drawn the greatest concerns among investors.

Anglo fell as much as 14 percent in London yesterday to a record low and is set for the biggest two-day drop since 2008. The stock fell 12 percent on Tuesday.

“The downside risk to commodity prices is still significant, and further action, including an equity issuance, may still be necessary in 2016,” Jefferies said in a note to investors yesterday. “We have confidence that operational improvements are coming, but we do not have confidence that commodity prices will stabilise in the near future.” before tomorrow’s meeting in anticipation of asset sales and operational improvements. Still, he says, weak commodity prices will continue to cloud the longer term.

Shorts are probably using Glencore as a proxy to play the

Jefferies cut its rating on Anglo to sell from hold. Banks including HSBC said even the extended cutbacks may be insufficient should weak commodity prices prevail.

Glencore, weighed down by a $30 billion (R437bn) debt load, has edged higher from a record low on September 28 after the company moved to alleviate investor concerns about its ability to curb its borrowings.

The commodity trader has sold $2.5bn of new stock, scrapped its dividends and put assets up for sale as part of a $10bn debt reduction plan.

Anglo fell 3.93 percent to R70.11 while Glencore jumped 5.13 percent to R18.44 on the JSE yesterday. – Bloomberg slump in copper and coal prices, says Marc Elliott, the mining analyst at Investec, whose bearish research spurred a record drop in the shares in September. Still, any good news out of tomorrow’s meeting and those bets might