Glencore Sinks to All-Time Low on Continued Debt Fears -- 2nd Update
28 Setembro 2015 - 10:33AM
Dow Jones News
By Scott Patterson And Alex MacDonald
LONDON--Investors pounded shares of mining giant Glencore PLC on
Monday, sending it to a new all-time low amid fresh concerns that
persistently low commodity prices will cripple its debt-laden
balance sheet.
The Swiss company's stock has collapsed in recent months despite
a series of moves designed to bolster investor confidence and ease
its debt burden. Glencore raised $2.5 billion earlier this month by
issuing new equity to pay down debt.
Monday's plunge, in which Glencore tumbled 31% at one point to a
record low of 66.7 pence, put its stock about 47% below the price
investors paid just weeks ago in the stock offering.
But weakness in China, coupled with soft prices for commodities
such as copper and zinc that are central to the company's earnings,
have scrambled Glencore's efforts to boost confidence.
Investec Securities said in a report Monday that if commodity
prices don't rebound, the value of Glencore's stock is "virtually
eliminated." That is because Glencore, with nearly $30 billion in
debt, would need to dedicate excess cash to repaying debt
obligations, the analyst said.
If prices don't recover, "Glencore may have to undertake further
restructuring beyond the dividend suspension, capital raising and
asset sales programs it has already announced," Investec said.
Glencore's internal projections are at odds with Investec's
analysis, according to a person close to the company. Glencore
expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization this year to be in the high single-digit billions of
dollars, the person said.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has similar concerns though. Investors
aren't "convinced that Glencore has gone far enough to totally
allay fears that the industrial assets can service the new lower
debt level," analysts at the New York bank said in a note on
Thursday.
Not all analysts believe the situation is so dire.
Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Paul Gait said in a Sept. 23 note
that the selloff in Glencore's shares are overdone.
"For there to be no equity value left in the business at all,
there would need to be a significant further fall in the commodity
price deck, " he said.
Other factors weighing on Glencore are poor Chinese
macroeconomic indicators showing a slowdown in the world's
second-largest economy and concerns that Glencore may struggle to
execute its $10 billion worth of measures in a timely fashion and
reach its target of reducing net debt by a third to around $20
billion by the end of 2016.
Glencore is also seeking to raise around $2 billion from asset
sales, which at least two analysts say could be tricky to
execute.
The company has hired Credit Suisse Group AG and Citigroup Inc.
to unload a minority stake in the agricultural business, a deal
that could value the business at up to $12 billion, a person
familiar with the matter said.
On Monday Glencore also agreed to sell a Brazilian nickel
project for $8 million. It is also looking to sell rights to its
precious metals production.
China's industrial profits fell 8.8% on year in August,
extending July's fall as the slowing economy hit enterprises'
profitability.
Copper, the company's biggest earnings driver and a barometer
for the health of the global economy, is down a fifth so far this
year, having hit a six-year low last month.
Glencore's shares are down more than 75% so far this year,
making it the worst performer in the blue-chip index, and are down
nearly 90% since their listing in London in 2011.
SP Angel mining analyst John Meyer said the stock feels
oversold. "I would be looking for Glencore to rebound from
here...[but] only time will tell."
Corrections & Amplifications
Investors aren't "convinced that Glencore has gone far enough to
totally allay fears that the industrial assets can service the new
lower debt level," analysts at the New York bank said in a note on
Thursday. An earlier version of this article said the note was
published Friday.
Write to Scott Patterson at scott.patterson@wsj.com and Alex
MacDonald at alex.macdonald@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 28, 2015 09:18 ET (13:18 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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