• Resilient Adjusted EBITDA / EBIT performance driven by Glencore's marketing business and volume growth in industrials.
• Adjusted EBIT down 17% to $ 4.5 billion; marketing Adjusted EBIT up 11%, Glencore industrial Adjusted EBIT down 27%.
• Continued growth of operating cash flow (FFO), up 17% to $ 4.1 billion.
• Strong balance sheet with $ 9 billion of committed liquidity.
• Completed the acquisition of Viterra, a transformational deal for our agricultural business, giving access to the grain markets in Canada and reinforcing our position in Australia.
• Industrial growth projects continue to deliver overall volume improvement; sector leading growth pipeline remains on budget.
• Continuation of bolt-on acquisitions strategy:
- increased interest in Kazzinc to 69.6%, Optimum to 67% and Mutanda to 60%.
- acquisition of Vale's European manganese ferroalloys operations.
• Kazzinc own gold production up 22% with recovery rates continuing to improve; successful ramp-up of new copper smelter resulting in increased copper cathode production of 25,800 tonnes.
• Katanga copper metal up 2%, with cathode production up 7%, in spite of significant disruption from power shortage. New power converter and synchronous condenser commissioned in December 2012. Agreement with SNEL to provide better reliability and availability of electricity supply in the medium to long term.
• Mutanda copper production up 37%. Following completion of the cobalt plant, Mutanda now has capacity in place to produce up to 110,000 tonnes of copper and 23,000 tonnes of cobalt.
• Murrin Murrin own sourced production was 33,400 tonnes of nickel, a record production year.
• Prodeco own production up 1% despite the three month strike at La Jagua. The expansion plan remains on track to produce annualised 20 million tonnes by 2014.
• Significant growth in South African coal production, up 104%, following the acquisitions of Optimum and Umcebo.
• Aseng oil field ahead of initial schedule producing 61.7k bbls/day, with Alen field on schedule to start producing in Q3 2013.
• Together with Vitol, agreed heads of terms for long-term crude supply contracts with Rosneft; the agreement builds on the relationship with one of the world's leading oil and gas companies and the importance of the Russian oil market.
• The Directors propose a final dividend of $ 0.1035 per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to $ 0.1575 per share, up 5% compared to 2011.
• The Xstrata merger long stop date has been extended to 16 April 2013, with the consent of Xstrata and the Panel.
Glencore's Chief Executive Officer, Ivan Glasenberg, commented:
"2012 was a year of significant achievement for Glencore. Despite the challenging environment faced by the mining industry, Glencore delivered organic growth in its industrial businesses which complemented a robust performance in its marketing operations. In addition to our healthy financial performance, 2012 also saw some major landmarks for the company. The acquisition of Viterra transformed our agricultural business into a truly global operation. Even more significantly, we announced the merger with Xstrata which will create a group with the expertise and scale to play a leading role in meeting the world's growing demand for commodities.
As we look ahead to 2013, we remain focused on ensuring that we maximise the potential of the expanded Glencore platform irrespective of prevailing economic conditions."
In addition, Glencore has today published on its website (www.glencore.com) a presentation which contains a summary of the 2012 preliminary results.
