Anglo American plc is one of the worlds largest mining and natural resource groups. With its subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates, it is a global leader in platinum group metals, gold and diamonds, with significant interests in coal, base and ferrous metals, industrial minerals and paper and packaging. The group is geographically diverse, with operations in Africa, Europe, South and North America, Australia and Asia.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

SALES PER ACTIVITY (Data as of 31/12/2005)

Packaging and Paper: 23%
Ferrous metals:         20.5%
Industrial minerals:    14%
Platinum:                 12.5%
Nonferrous metals:    12%
Coal:                       9%
Gold:                       9%

StockMarketWire.com
Anglo American reported net debt at 30 June 2016 decreased to $11.7 billion (vs. $12.9 billion as at 31 December 2015) through cost discipline and working capital and capex reductions.

HIGHLIGHTS
- Attributable free cash flow of $1.1 billion (vs. $0.2 billion in H1 2015)

- Disposal proceeds of $1.5 billion agreed and expect to be completed in H2 2016

- Group underlying EBIT(1) of $1.4 billion, a 27% decrease, due to lower commodity prices ($1.2 billion underlying EBIT impact), partially offset by weaker producer country currencies ($0.9 billion underlying EBIT benefit) and incremental cost reductions

Operating performance and associated cost and capex reductions mitigating headwinds:
- Unit costs decreased by 19% (vs. H1 2015) in US dollar terms

- Expect to deliver $1.6 billion of cost and volume improvements in 2016

- $1.9 billion target included $300 million now reclassified as capex and working capital reduction

- $0.3 billion of cost and volume improvements delivered in H1 2016

- Commodity price-driven impairment of $1.2 billion relating to Moranbah and Grosvenor coal assets contributing to a loss before tax of $364 million

RBC note today:
"Our view: With the balance sheet striding towards rehabilitation and volume improvements in H2, Anglo’s rating likely to improve. Further, divestments provide catalysts for the shares. We upgrade to Outperform, with a £10/sh Price Target.
Key points: Upgrading on positive pointers from H1: We have adjusted our forecasts post the H1 figures; this and good progress on debt, costs, capex and productivity, has led us to increase our Price Target to £10/sh. Our recommendation is upgraded to Outperform. Risks remain commodity prices, South Africa and the impact of any GBP strength on the share price.
Good H1 results: H1 results came in above consensus and our forecasts despite disappointing production from Copper (Los Bronces). Across the group there was a strong effort to control or reduce costs (helped by currencies) and capex was controlled. In H2 there should be a greater benefit on costs from volumes, productivity and cost cutting (including headcount). While there will be lower activity in diamonds for seasonality reasons, volumes in Copper, Coal and Iron Ore should improve and Anglo expects to achieve its $1.6bn annual cost reduction; it could even do better.
Balance sheet starts to look respectable: The higher level of net debt is being reeled in with $1.1bn of free cash flow in H1 contributing to the reduction from $12.9bn at end-December 2015 to $11.7m at end-June. The target remains below $10bn for the year (we calculate $9.5bn), which seems certain given after-tax proceeds of ~$1.4bn from the May sale of Phosphates & Niobium and additional internal cash generation despite the likely non-recurence of the $500m working inflow in H1 as De Beers and Kumba have no surplus inventory now. As important as the net debt target is that Anglo moved below the 2.5x goal in terms of net debt:EBITDA after adjusting for the sale of Phosphates & Niobium.
Assets sales continue: Anglo faced many questions from analysts on whether it still needed to dispose of assets given an improving balance sheet. The company reiterated its target of being only invested in Copper, Diamonds and PGMs, but did acknowledge that achieving value for assets could influence the disposal timeline. We believe the next assets likely to be sold will be the Australian metcoal mines for a price of up to $1.5bn.
Dividend returns by end-FY17: At the end of next year Anglo targets resuming dividend payments, based on a payout ratio rather than the previous “progressive” policy. We conservatively assume a payout of $0.25/sh for FY18 though success on asset sales could make our timing conservative. The message is that Anglo is confident the balance sheet and debt rating will justify resuming dividends. This is a positive message which should help mitigate Anglo’s elevated exposure to South Africa."

StockMarketWire.com
Anglo American has completed the sale of its 70% interest in the Foxleigh metallurgical coal mine in Queensland, Australia, to a consortium led by Taurus Fund Management, following the announcement of the sale and purchase agreement on 4 April.

Foxleigh is an open cut coal operation which produces high quality pulverised coal injection (PCI) coal, located in Queensland's Bowen Basin, 12 kilometres southwest of Middlemount.

Anglo American's attributable share of Foxleigh's saleable production was 1.86 million tonnes in 2015. Story

StockMarketWire.com
Anglo American says operational improvements continue across the portfolio, delivering a 4% production increase on a copper equivalent basis in the third quarter, and a 12% increase compared to Q2 2016.

Chief executive Mark Cutifani said: "The latter increase is largely due to the strong recovery at Kumba's Sishen mine, a 46% production increase, following the successful completion of its restructuring.

"In our diamond and platinum businesses we continue to maintain discipline on volumes by mining to demand, whilst the ramp-ups at Minas-Rio and Grosvenor are progressing well, and Barro Alto has now reached nameplate capacity. The modestly higher production at De Beers is reflective of improved market conditions relative to Q3 2015, but we maintain a cautious outlook."

- Diamond production increased by 4% to 6.3 million carats compared with Q3 2015 when production was reduced in response to the prevailing trading conditions.

- Platinum production (expressed as metal in concentrate) was broadly unchanged, increasing by 1% to 619,000 ounces. Refined platinum production increased by 14% to 694,700 ounces, following recovery at the Precious Metals Refinery.

- Copper production from the retained operations decreased by 9% to 139,800 tonnes. Expected lower grades at Los Bronces and the impact of strikes at Los Bronces and El Soldado, were partly offset by strong plant performance and higher grades at Collahuasi.

- Nickel production increased by 66% to 11,300 tonnes following the successful completion of the Barro Alto furnace rebuilds in 2015. - Iron ore production from Kumba increased by 3% (33% vs. Q2 2016) to 11.8 million tonnes due to productivity improvements at Sishen following its restructuring.

- Iron ore production from Minas-Rio increased by 53% to 4.5 million tonnes (wet basis) as the operation continues to ramp-up.

- Export metallurgical coal production was broadly unchanged, increasing by 1% to 5.5 million tonnes due to the ramp-up at Grosvenor and a longwall move at Moranbah in Q3 2015, offsetting geological issues at Grasstree and the sale of Foxleigh, which completed on 30 August 2016. - Export thermal coal production remained flat at 8.8 million tonnes. An increase in production at Cerrejan was offset by a ramp-down at Drayton where mining activities will cease in Q4 2016.

Macquarie today reaffirms its neutral investment rating on Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) and set its price target at 880p.

01/12/16 - Exane BNP Paribas today upgrades its investment rating on Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) to neutral (from underperform) and set its price target at 1250p

Credit Suisse today (07/12/16) reaffirms its neutral investment rating on Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) and raised its price target to 1400p (from 1300p).

StockMarketWire.com
Anglo American has announced the value of rough diamond sales for De Beers's tenth sales cycle of 2016, amounting to $418 million, compared with the $476 million value of the ninth sales cycle.

De Beers chief executive Bruce Cleaver said: "We continued to see good demand for De Beers rough diamonds in our latest sales cycle. While the trade in lower value rough diamonds is experiencing a temporary slowdown as a result of the demonetisation programme in India, demand across the rest of the product mix continued to be healthy and overall sales remained in line with seasonal expectations. Pleasingly, sales were also significantly higher than those for the equivalent cycle in 2015."

Barclays Capital today reaffirms its equal weight investment rating on Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) and raised its price target to 1240p (from 975p)

Anglo American said the value of rough diamond sales for De Beers's first sales cycle of 2017 amounted to $720m compared with $545m a year ago.

De Beers Chief executive Bruce Cleaver said: "We saw good demand across the majority of our assortment during the first sales cycle of the year, as the industry entered the period when rough diamond demand is traditionally strongest.

"The longer period between the final Sight of 2016 and the first Sight of 2017 also contributed to heightened demand during the cycle.

"While the reopening of some diamond polishing operations in India saw something of an increase in demand for smaller, lower quality rough diamonds, we maintain a cautious outlook for these categories as the Indian industry continues to adjust to the post-demonetisation environment."

Haitong Securities today reaffirms its neutral investment rating on Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) and raised its price target to 1400p (from 1240p).

anyone other than me holding these?

Anil Agarwal, the Indian mining billionaire, plans to buy as much as 2 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) of Anglo American Plc shares in the market after a merger proposal failed last year.
The purchase will be funded via a mandatory exchangeable bond issued by his holding company, Volcan Investments Ltd., and secured by Anglo’s shares, the investor said in a statement on Wednesday. Agarwal, who founded Vedanta Resources Plc, doesn’t
intend to make a takeover offer for the company, it said. A representative for Anglo American declined to comment.
The full stake would equate to about 13 percent of Anglo’s stock, making Agarwal Anglo’s second-largest shareholder after South Africa’s Public Investment Corp. Anglo had rebuffed informal approaches from Agarwal last year when he contacted the London-based miner to discuss potential ideas including a combination with the
Indian zinc miner he controls through Vedanta, people familiar with the plans said at the time. They were quickly dismissed by Anglo, they said.
“It gives him an extremely good seat at the table if there is going to be any corporate activity,” said Jeremy Wrathall,head of mining research at Investec Plc. “We expect that M&A is going to be the next phase and maybe this is firing the starting gun.”
Anglo’s U.S. traded shares rose as much as 11 percent.

I don't hold but have been watching the sector closely for a while now. Do you not think that it has run it's course? Sp of most miners has doubled or trebled over the last 14 months. I'm not sure how much further they have got to run, though analysts seem to still quite like copper as an investment and the associated companies producing it.

I bought them yesterday on the lull and they've gone shooting back up. I was looking for £16 when I bought the first last last July. Maybe when it gets there take a view.

The dollar weakening might also affect any company which reports profitability in $. However, KAZ has done very well this morning.

Macquarie today reaffirms its neutral investment rating on Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) and set its price target at 1250p.

roe of 1.225 is scarcely a weak $ ..... and 5-year chart tells it's own story ......

StockMarketWire.com
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Anglo American's long-term issuer default rating and senior unsecured rating at 'BB+' and revised the outlook on the IDR to positive from negative.

The short-term IDR has been affirmed at 'B'.

Barclays Capital today reaffirms its equal weight investment rating on Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) and cut its price target to 1220p (from 1240p).

Citigroup today (27/03/17) reaffirms its neutral investment rating on Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) and cut its price target to 1400p (from 1450p).

StockMarketWire.com
Anglo American has sold its Eskom-tied domestic thermal coal operations in South Africa to a wholly owned subsidiary of Seriti Resources Holdings Proprietary Ltd.

Seriti is a company majority owned by historically disadvantaged South Africans and led by a management team with extensive experience of operating and developing large coal mines in South Africa.

The Eskom-tied domestic thermal coal operations consist of the New Vaal, New Denmark and Kriel collieries, as well as four closed collieries.

Anglo American said the transaction would result in Seriti becoming the second largest provider of thermal coal to Eskom, supplying almost a quarter of Eskom's current annual coal requirements. It said the consideration payable for the operations as at 1 January 2017 was ZAR2.3 billion.

It said that under the terms of the transaction, the consideration payable would be adjusted for cash flows generated by the operations between 1 January 2017 and the date on which the transaction was completed in order to determine the final payment to be made by Seriti upon completion.

Barclays Capital today reaffirms its equal weight investment rating on Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) and cut its price target to 1165p (from 1220p).

JP Morgan Cazenove today (02/05/17) reaffirms its overweight investment rating on Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) and raised its price target to 1600p (from 1530p).

StockMarketWire.com
Anglo American has completed the sale of its 83.33% interest in the Dartbrook coal mine in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia, to Australian Pacific Coal Limited.

Dartbrook consists of an underground thermal coal mine and associated processing infrastructure that has been on care and maintenance since 2006.

StockMarketWire.com
Anglo American has resumed dividends after net debt was reduced to $6.2 billion, driven by $2.7 billion free cash flow.

The group generated underlying EBITDA of $4.1 billion in the six months to the end of June, a 68% increase on last time.

Underlying EBITDA margin increased by an additional five percentage points vs. FY 2016 and the group posted a rofit attributable to equity shareholders of $1.4 billion (H1 2016: $0.8 billion loss).

Other highlights:
- Delivered cost and volume improvements of $0.6 billion - on track to meet $1 billion target for full year

- Production volumes increased by 9% (Cu eq.)(2)

- Attributable free cash flow of $2.7 billion (H1 2016: $1.1 billion)

- Reduced net debt by 27% to $6.2 billion (FY 2016: $8.5 billion), ahead of $7 billion year-end target

- Resumed dividend at 48 US cents per share for the first half, equal to 40% of first half underlying earnings - Dividend policy to target pay-out of 40% of underlying earnings

Chief executive Mark Cutifani said: "The benefits of our relentless focus on driving efficiency through the operations and on upgrading the quality of our portfolio have resulted in a step-change in operational performance and profitability.

"In the first half, we have delivered a further 20% increase in productivity, a 68% increase in underlying EBITDA and $2.7 billion of attributable free cash flow - the outcome of extensive self-help work and tightly controlled capital expenditure, within a stronger price environment.

"We have nearly halved our net debt to $6.2 billion over the past year to take us well below our year-end target of $7 billion.

"Our materially improved balance sheet strength, with gearing at 19% and net debt to annualised EBITDA of 0.8x, has supported the decision to resume dividend payments six months early, establishing a pay-out policy at a targeted level of 40% of underlying earnings.

"This equates to a dividend payment of 48 US cents per share for this half year. "Looking forward, our focus will continue to be on improving operational performance and converting production and improving costs into consistent cash flow generation, while maintaining strict capital allocation discipline.

"We are now in a position to consider value accretive growth options and capital returns from within our substantial undeveloped mineral endowment."

StockMarketWire.com
Anglo American said the value of rough diamond sales for De Beers' eighth sales cycle of 2017, amounted to $370m.

De Beers chief executive Bruce Cleaver said: 'De Beers offered fewer rough diamonds for sale in cycle 8, reflecting the concurrent timing this year of the Sight sale with the closure of polishing factories in India and Israel for the observance of religious holidays.

'Sales were in line with expectations, at what is a seasonally slower time for rough diamond demand.'