Miner Glencore to give $2bn to shareholders despite profit slump
Glencore is to give $2bn (£1.47bn) to shareholders after a turbulent year in which profits slumped and talks collapsed over a blockbuster $260bn merger with the fellow mining company Rio Tinto.The FTSE 100 company announced the payout on Wednesday despite reporting that annual profits slipped 6% on the previous year to $13.5bn.It comes weeks after talks over what would have been the largest deal in mining history collapsed, leaving the Swiss-headquartered commodities company to press ahead with a plan to more than double its copper production over the next decade.
Rising metals prices and an increase in copper output in the second half of the year were not enough to make up for a bruising fall in coal and energy commodity prices, which pulled earnings down,Glencore, which was established in 1974 as a trading company, has operations in more than 30 countries and a workforce of about 140,000,The idea of combining Rio and Glencore has been repeatedly floated over the past two decades and was raised the first time just before the global financial crisis in 2008,Rio rejected Glencore’s merger approach in 2014, while another round of talks in 2024 also came to nothing,The most recent attempts followed the $53bn deal between Anglo American and the Canadian rival Teck last September, which brought two of the world’s largest copper producers together.
Despite the failed deal, Gary Nagle, Glencore’s chief executive, said last year brought “significant progress” and pointed to “clear momentum for our copper-led growth strategy”.Copper has become central to Glencore’s future, with the metal increasingly in demand as the world builds out electric vehicles, renewable energy infrastructure and power grids.The company is targeting production of more than 1m tonnes of copper a year by the end of 2028, rising to 1.6m tonnes by 2035, which would make it one of the world’s largest producers.Glencore is the world’s sixth-largest copper producer and the largest listed coal producer.
Nagle justified the payout to investors by pointing to Glencore’s $4bn stake in Bunge, a US agricultural trader it received when Bunge merged with Glencore’s Viterra grain business last year, which he described as surplus capital being set aside for shareholders.Glencore has long been one of the world’s biggest coal traders, a business that has attracted criticism from climate campaigners but which the company argues is needed to keep the lights on in developing economies.In 2024 it scrapped plans to spin off its coal business after shareholders urged the commodities company to hold on to the highly profitable but heavily polluting division.
Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy reccipe for crispy baked gnocchi puttanesca | Quick and easy
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How to make the perfect chicken massaman – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …
Bickering pleasantly over the menu in a Thai restaurant with my family recently, I realised I was unable to explain exactly what a gaeng massaman was, beyond the fact it was probably a safe bet for those concerned about the three chillies next to the green curry (a dish I first tackled for this column back in 2010). The gap in my repertoire was explained later when I opened David Thompson’s pink bible of Thai Food and learned that “a mussaman curry is the most complex, time-consuming Thai curry to make”. The fact the esteemed Australian chef also describes it as “the most delicious” is scant comfort given I’ve just promised my editor I’ll make at least six of the things … but then I remember how incredibly tasty it is, and knuckle down to my research.Though the first recipe dates from 1899, massaman, whose name suggests an association with the country’s Muslim minority, probably dates back to the 17th century, and reflects either Persian or Malaysian influence, or perhaps that of the Indian and Middle Eastern spice traders who travelled through southern Thailand on their way to China. It’s unusual in its use of dried spices like cumin and cinnamon, bay leaves and cloves alongside more classic Thai aromatics like lemongrass and galangal to create a richly savoury gravy that cloaks the protein and potatoes like a warm hug direct from Bangkok
Koba, London W1: ‘I admire their chutzpah’ – restaurant review
Sometimes, my memories of a restaurant begin at the end, and at Koba in Fitzrovia, central London, the enduring image is the warm, fresh, sugary, bean paste doughnut served with a pot of buckwheat tea. It was an utter delight, but then, Korean sweet bean paste, which is made with adzuki beans, is so very satisfying: pleasantly claggy, almost nutty, and a little decadent, while at the same time still convincing you that it might count as one of your five a day, were it not stuffed inside a hot fresh doughnut with a whopping great dollop of whipped cream. It was a cold winter’s day – the sort where, by lunchtime, my own umbrella had blown inside-out twice and everyone else’s seemed determined to poke my eye out. Against that backdrop, this doughnut was a moment of pure bliss.Koba, a Korean restaurant by Linda Lee, has been providing moments of such joy for 20 solid years, not least with its traditional tabletop barbecue hot plates on which guests could grill their own dinner
Original Bramley apple tree ‘at risk’ after site where it grows put up for sale
The future of the original Bramley apple tree, which is responsible for one of the world’s most popular cooking apples, is at risk now that the site where it grows has been put up for sale, campaigners have warned.The tree is situated in the back garden of a row of cottages in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, which has been owned by Nottingham Trent University since 2018 and has been used as student accommodation.The university said the site was for sale due to the “age and configuration” of the cottages, which made them no longer suitable for accommodation.The great granddaughter of the man who first introduced the Bramley apple commercially said she was “very concerned” for the future of the tree and it needed to be protected.“It’s a very famous tree
Potstickers and sea bass with ginger and spring onions: Amy Poon’s recipes for lunar new year
Christmas is lovely, but my kids think Chinese new year is by far the best holiday. I might be biased, but, unusually, I am inclined to agree with them. As my eldest puts it, “New clothes, cash, booze and food – what’s not to love?” There’s the added bonus that cash is absolutely more than acceptable – in fact, it’s de rigueur, so there’s no shopping for mundane socks and smelly candles. Chinese new year is full of rituals and, just as at Christmas, every family has its own, but they are all variations on a theme. Symbolism looms large in Chinese culture, and at new year it centres around messages of prosperity, luck and family
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