REG - Anglo American PLC - Anglo American AGM 2025 address to shareholders

Anglo AmericanAnnouncement

Yesterday 14:30

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20250430:nRSd8790Ga&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 8790G  Anglo American PLC  30 April 2025

 30 April 2025
 AGM 2025 - Address to Shareholders

Anglo American plc held its Annual General Meeting for shareholders in London
today. The following remarks were made by the Chair and the Chief Executive.

 

Stuart Chambers, Chair of Anglo American plc, made the following remarks:

 

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Anglo American's 2025 Annual
General Meeting.

 

Before we continue with this meeting, I want to highlight that we will also be
holding a separate General Meeting of Anglo American after this Annual General
Meeting. The business of the General Meeting is in relation to the proposed
demerger of Anglo American Platinum (being the demerger of the Anglo American
Group's PGMs business) and related matters, which is scheduled to start at 1pm
(or as soon thereafter as this Annual General Meeting shall have concluded or
been adjourned). Any questions regarding the demerger of Anglo American
Platinum will be addressed during the General Meeting of the Company,
scheduled to start at 1pm today.

 

Notice of this meeting was published to shareholders on 24 March 2025, and a
quorum is present. I therefore declare this meeting duly constituted. Have I
your permission to take the Notice of Meeting as read and formally propose the
resolutions set out in the Notice? Thank you.

 

I will now introduce the rest of your Board, all of whom are present. Starting
on my far left is Anne Wade, Marcelo Bastos, Ian Ashby and Hilary Maxson, four
of our independent non-executive directors. Anne Wade, who joined us on 1
January 2025, is the newest member of the Board. Anne brings to Anglo American
a wealth of buy-side insights from her career as a global asset manager and
extensive experience as a non-executive director across a number of relevant
industries, with emphasis on sustainability and responsible investing.

 

Next to Hilary is John Heasley, our finance director and next to me is our
chief executive, Duncan Wanblad. To my immediate right is Richard Price, our
Legal & Corporate Affairs Director and Company Secretary, and then Ian
Tyler, our Senior Independent Director. Next to Ian are independent
non-executive directors, Hixonia Nyasulu, Nonkululeko Nyembezi, and Magali
Anderson.

 

Ensuring we have the right mix of skills, experience and diversity at Board
level that reflects the breadth of our business is critical to effective
governance. To that end, our Board appointments are sequenced to reflect the
areas of expertise that we feel we need as we look ahead at the trajectory of
the business.

 

You can find the biographies for each director in our Notice of AGM and I
trust that you agree with me in noting the high calibre and diverse experience
of our Board members.

 

Later, I will be asking you to vote on the election of Anne Wade for the first
time as an independent non-executive director and the usual annual re-election
of myself and all other directors.

 

Now, before I ask Duncan Wanblad, our chief executive, to give you an overview
of recent performance, allow me to share some of my perspectives on your
company, Anglo American.

 

The global macro-economic landscape continued to present challenges in 2024.
While fears of a global recession were somewhat tempered by robust growth in
the US, the world now finds itself navigating an increasingly complex and
volatile geopolitical and trade landscape as we move through the current year,
and we have seen the effects on markets around the world in the last month.

 

Amid the turbulent macro environment, we have been steadfast in our focus to
position Anglo American as a far more agile and resilient business that is set
up to fulfil its full value and growth potential for the long-term. Duncan and
his team have delivered rapidly on our portfolio simplification set out in May
last year and remain absolutely focused on driving safe, stable and
responsible operations at each of our world-class assets during this time.

 

So, let me now turn to performance for 2024, and starting, as always, with
safety, our number one value.

 

While I am pleased to see that our injury frequency rate continued to improve
for the third consecutive year, to its lowest ever level in 2024, it is
profoundly saddening to report that we lost three colleagues during the year
following two accidents at our managed operations.

 

A death is always a terrible loss and be in no doubt that we cannot and will
not rest in our efforts to reach our goal of zero harm.

 

Turning to where we are taking the company. We are in the midst of
transforming Anglo American into a highly attractive and differentiated
investment proposition, focused on our world-class positions in three global
commodities - namely copper, premium iron ore and crop nutrients. These are
the future-enabling products supplying into the three major demand trends of
decarbonisation, improving living standards, and food security, and we expect
them to support our business for decades to come.

 

The delivery of our portfolio simplification is well advanced. In November, we
agreed the sale of the bulk of our steelmaking coal business to Peabody
Energy, subject to relevant approvals, which, together with the sale of our
interest in Jellinbah to Zashvin, will generate up to $4.8 billion in cash
proceeds. The sale of the nickel business was agreed in February 2025 for up
to $500 million in cash and the demerger of Anglo American Platinum, which
will be voted on by you, our shareholders, later today, is expected in early
June. As you may have heard Duncan say when he presented the 2024 results to
the market in February, we will also exit De Beers at the right time,
recognising that current market conditions are particularly tough.

 

Anglo American's simplified portfolio offers significant value-accretive
growth options across the three product verticals I mentioned:

 

Our outstanding copper endowment through our interests in three world-class
copper assets - Quellaveco, Los Bronces and Collahuasi - is set for multiple
decades of competitive production and growth. We have well-sequenced
brownfield and greenfield prospects for a pathway to more than one million
tonnes of annual copper production, which includes our greenfield Sakatti
polymetallic project in Finland.

 

In our premium iron ore business, both Minas-Rio and Kumba contribute
significantly to cash flow and offer value-enhancing opportunities. UHDMS
technology being deployed at Kumba will deliver a step change in the
proportion of premium quality product, while the combination of Minas-Rio and
Serpentina provides a high-value option to double Minas-Rio's production, with
meaningful operational and logistics synergies.

 

At the Woodsmith project, the cornerstone of our crop nutrients business right
here in the UK, we aim to bring online the world's largest-known deposit of
the natural mineral fertiliser known as polyhalite to deliver greater crop
yields, to improve soil health and to feed a growing global population.

 

Our ability to fulfil our outstanding growth potential is founded on Anglo
American's longstanding approach to sustainability, innovation and our
experience of operating responsibly in many jurisdictions, particularly in
southern Africa and South America, over many decades.

 

Whether it is how we meaningfully engage host communities or leveraging our
use of technologies to reduce water and energy intensity, or harnessing our
innovative approach to delivering net-positive impact (NPI) on biodiversity -
we are focused on further enhancing these outcomes, to drive economic returns
for you, our shareholders, and to generate positive benefits for our wider
stakeholders. As you may now already know, we are refreshing our Sustainable
Mining Plan to reflect Anglo American's future portfolio composition, and we
look forward to sharing our updated approach later this year.

 

When we spoke this time last year, we were of course in the throes of the
unsolicited and highly conditional combination proposals from BHP. The Board
gave serious consideration to these proposals, reviewing them in detail and
unanimously rejecting each in turn. At the same time, the Board supported the
management team's accelerated value delivery plans as being in the best
interests of you, our shareholders, and - notwithstanding the volatility in
the financial markets - I hope you'll agree that we have delivered on these
plans, at pace.

 

Combined with the strategic progress we are making with the portfolio and
significant cost reductions already delivered, Anglo American delivered a far
stronger return for shareholders in 2024, with a Total Shareholder Return
(TSR) for the year of 24%, compared with the FTSE 100 Index of 10% and a
negative 12% TSR for the FTSE 350 Mining Index.

 

In line with our payout-based dividend policy, the Board has recommended a
final dividend of $0.22 per share, equal to 40% of underlying earnings,
bringing total dividends for the year to $0.64 per share or $0.8 billion.

 

It is clear to the Board that the management team, under Duncan's leadership,
has taken decisive action to establish a pathway forward to build greater
resilience and enhance value both now and longer term. On behalf of the Board,
I'd like to say how pleased we are with the exceptional progress that the team
has made in our portfolio simplification to date, and I am pleased, too, that
these efforts were reflected in the marked improvement in our share price
performance over the course of 2024.

 

Duncan Wanblad, Chief Executive of Anglo American plc, made the following
remarks:

 

Thank you, Stuart and good morning, everyone.

 

Safety is our number one value and is always our first priority… so let me
start there. Nothing is more important to me than ensuring our people return
home to their families safely every day. Safety and operating performance are
inextricably linked - and as the stability of our operations has improved, so
we have also seen a step-change reduction in our injury rates, resulting in a
28% improvement over the two-year window since 2022. 2024 was our best ever
full year performance. Together with the improvement in injury rates, the
severity of our High Potential Incidents continues to trend downwards, and I
am confident that we are on the right track. Despite this progress, it deeply
saddens me to report the loss of three colleagues in two separate incidents at
our managed operations during the year.

 

In addition to investigating each of these tragic incidents, we are committed
to sharing the learnings across the industry to help prevent any repeats. We
simply will not rest until we reach and maintain zero.

 

Let me now talk through some of the operational performance and financials.

 

Our strategic priority of operational excellence was our biggest margin lever
in 2024, and we have seen positive results from the resetting of our mine
plans and an organisational design focused on supporting work closer to where
it is done.

 

Despite our basket price falling by 10%, our actions to take out unprofitable
production, and excess costs, kept our EBITDA margin stable at 30%, with full
year EBITDA of $8.5 billion. Notwithstanding a $3.9 billion reduction in
revenues compared to 2023, our deliberate and significant action to reduce
costs resulted in the Group's EBITDA reducing by only $1.5 billion in 2024.
Our focus on this operational leverage in the business, and our simplified
portfolio will mean higher margins going forward. We realised cost savings in
2024 of $1.0 billion and we are on track to deliver $1.8 billion on a run-rate
basis by the end of 2025, using the portfolio simplification as an opportunity
to re-think cost structures from the ground up.

 

We saw a significant step up in cash conversion to 97%, reflecting a laser
focus on working capital, realising a $1.8 billion inflow. This strong
operating cashflow allowed us to maintain net debt flat year-on-year at $10.6
billion, after dividends and growth capex.

 

Our net debt to EBITDA stood at 1.3 times at the end of December, which
remains within our target range of less than 1.5 times at the bottom of the
cycle, with substantial proceeds from our portfolio simplification still to be
received over the course of the year.

 

2024 saw us transform our performance, with strong delivery on all fronts as
we set ourselves up to implement our sequence of exceptional growth options in
copper, premium iron ore and crop nutrients. Our three strategic priorities of
operational excellence, portfolio simplification and growth have been the
focus and we have made material progress on each one of these over the last
year. Driving operational excellence and bringing our assets to best in class
will be a continuous journey of improvement, but we are seeing positive
results from the resetting of our mine plans and an organisational design
focused on supporting work closer to where it is done.

 

As we look towards the completion of our portfolio simplification, our focus
will now increasingly be turning towards value-accretive growth in the three
pillars of the business. Our world-class endowments in copper, iron ore and
crop nutrients, combined with the growth optionality and the all-important
institutional capabilities that we have, mean we are well-placed to unlock the
inherent value from our long-life, high-quality mineral assets for decades to
come.

 

As Stuart outlined earlier, we have moved at pace to separate each of the four
business at the right time - and I am delighted to tell you that the lion's
share of this work is almost complete. We have executed swiftly and for value,
with the Steelmaking Coal sale agreed for up to $4.8 billion and our nickel
business for up to $500 million. Later today, you, our shareholders, will be
voting on the demerger of Anglo American Platinum, which we expect to set out
as an independent company with the new name of Valterra Platinum. We are very
positive about the case for PGMs and the Amplats investment case in
particular, as the business embarks on this next chapter of its life.

 

It is inevitable that demergers, particularly in a different primary listing
jurisdiction, will result in some turnover in the shareholder register, and so
we proactively sold down a proportion of our shareholding during the second
half of last year to help manage this risk. At the same time, these actions
also raised approximately $900 million of proceeds for Anglo American.

 

The proposed additional listing of Anglo American Platinum on the London Stock
Exchange is also designed to mitigate the impact of flowback to shareholders.
In addition to these steps, we have decided to initially retain a 19.9%
shareholding following the demerger process, which we believe is consistent
with our intention to deliver the separation responsibly and optimally
structure the capital in both businesses.

 

We intend to remove all board representation and deconsolidate our interest
from the time of the demerger so that this doesn't interfere with a 'clean
break'.

 

We remain on track to be substantively complete with the portfolio
transformation by the end of this year - recognising that the timing of our
dual track process to divest our interest in De Beers for value, which we are
committed to completing at the right time, is dependent on market conditions.
It is worth remembering that De Beers has some of the best diamond mines and
resources in the world. It has an iconic brand and is a global leader in the
industry. We are protecting this value in what is a challenging near-term
diamond market. But let me assure you that there is no change to our strategic
rationale for exiting this business and setting De Beers up to thrive on a
standalone basis.

 

Looking ahead, our simplified portfolio daylights the inherent value found in
our world-class assets across copper, premium iron ore and crop nutrients and
provides a compelling investment proposition. Our portfolio will be focused
entirely on future-enabling products, each with outstanding growth potential,
and well placed to deliver into the demand growth trends of the energy
transition, improving living standards and food security.

 

We have a copper business with exceptional assets, and a pathway to growing
annual production above a million tonnes. We have a premium iron ore business,
where the UHDMS project at Kumba will increase our product quality and enhance
our margins, and where the Serpentina addition at Minas-Rio offers significant
value upside through synergies, scale and higher quality iron ore. And lastly,
we have a crop nutrients business with Woodsmith, a tier 1 asset by any
definition. As we've said before with this simplified portfolio, we believe
that we will be able to drive more value and have that value better
recognised.

 

It has been an exceptionally busy year for our business, and I am really proud
of the energy and pace at which the team has delivered on our strategy.

 

Notwithstanding the great progress we made in 2024, we believe there is still
room for improvement, and further operational upside to come. We have had a
strong start to 2025 in Copper and Iron Ore, with both businesses performing
in line with guidance. Our focus on operational excellence is delivering
valuable stability to our simplified portfolio and that provides us with a
strong base for the rest of the year.

 

Our work is anchored in our three, clear strategic priorities and underpinned
by a set of robust strategic enablers. We have set up the business as a
compelling investment proposition - one designed to withstand the cyclical and
broader macro volatility that we are seeing in our world today and to grow
shareholder value on a sustainable basis.

 

Thank you.

 

 

Following a number of questions from shareholders and their proxies, Stuart
Chambers closed the meeting, by adding:

 

The final results will be announced to the stock exchanges later this
afternoon and will be published on our website. Details of the proxy votes
already received for each resolution are shown on the screen behind me.

 

I am pleased to say that we have received strong support for all 20
resolutions based on the shares already voted that represent approximately 64%
of the share capital.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the business of this meeting. Thank you
all for your attendance today and I now declare the meeting closed.

 

Check against delivery.

 

 

For further information, please contact:

 

 Media                                                                              Investors

 UK                                                                                 UK

 James Wyatt-Tilby                                                                  Tyler Broda

 james.wyatt-tilby@angloamerican.com                                                tyler.broda@angloamerican.com
 (mailto:james.wyatt-tilby@angloamerican.com)

                                                                                  Tel: +44 (0)20 7968 1470
 Tel: +44 (0)20 7968 8759

                                                                                  Emma Waterworth
 Marcelo Esquivel                                                                   Emma.waterworth@angloamerican.com (mailto:Emma.waterworth@angloamerican.com)

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7968 8574
 marcelo.esquivel@angloamerican.com (mailto:marcelo.esquivel@angloamerican.com)

 Tel: +44 (0)20 7968 8891

                                                                                  Michelle West-Russell

                                                                                  michelle.west-russell@angloamerican.com
 Rebecca Meeson-Frizelle                                                            (mailto:michelle.west-russell@angloamerican.com)

 rebecca.meeson-frizelle@angloamerican.com                                          Tel: +44 (0)20 7968 1494
 (mailto:rebecca.meeson-frizelle@angloamerican.com)

 Tel: + 44 (0)20 7968 1374

                                                                                  Asanda Malimba

                                                                                  asanda.malimba@angloamerican.com
 South Africa

                                                                                  Tel: +44 (0)20 7968 8480
 Nevashnee Naicker

 nevashnee.naicker@angloamerican.com

 Tel: +27 (0)11 638 3189

 Ernest Mulibana
 ernest.mulibana@angloamerican.com (mailto:ernest.mulibana@angloamerican.com)

 Tel: +27 82 263 7372

Notes:

Anglo American is a leading global mining company focused on the responsible
production of copper, premium iron ore and crop nutrients - future-enabling
products that are essential for decarbonising the global economy, improving
living standards, and food security. Our portfolio of world-class operations
and outstanding resource endowments offers value-accretive growth potential
across all three businesses, positioning us to deliver into structurally
attractive major demand growth trends.

 

Our integrated approach to sustainability and innovation drives our
decision-making across the value chain, from how we discover new resources to
how we mine, process, move and market our products to our customers - safely,
efficiently and responsibly. Our Sustainable Mining Plan commits us to a
series of stretching goals over different time horizons to ensure we
contribute to a healthy environment, create thriving communities and build
trust as a corporate leader. We work together with our business partners and
diverse stakeholders to unlock enduring value from precious natural resources
for our shareholders, for the benefit of the communities and countries in
which we operate, and for society as a whole. Anglo American is re-imagining
mining to improve people's lives.

 

Anglo American is currently implementing a number of major structural changes
to unlock the inherent value in its portfolio and thereby accelerate delivery
of its strategic priorities of Operational excellence, Portfolio
simplification, and Growth. This portfolio transformation will focus Anglo
American on its world-class resource asset base in copper, premium iron ore
and crop nutrients, once the sale of our steelmaking coal and nickel
businesses, the demerger of our PGMs business (Anglo American Platinum), and
the separation of our iconic diamond business (De Beers) have been completed.

 

www.angloamerican.com (http://www.angloamerican.com)

 

 

 

 

Group terminology

In this document, references to "Anglo American", the "Anglo American Group",
the "Group", "we", "us", and "our" are to refer to either Anglo American plc
and its subsidiaries and/or those who work for them generally, or where it is
not necessary to refer to a particular entity, entities or persons. The use of
those generic terms herein is for convenience only, and is in no way
indicative of how the Anglo American Group or any entity within it is
structured, managed or controlled. Anglo American subsidiaries, and their
management, are responsible for their own day-to-day operations, including but
not limited to securing and maintaining all relevant licences and permits,
operational adaptation and implementation of Group policies, management,
training and any applicable local grievance mechanisms. Anglo American
produces group-wide policies and procedures to ensure best uniform practices
and standardisation across the Anglo American Group but is not responsible for
the day to day implementation of such policies. Such policies and procedures
constitute prescribed minimum standards only. Group operating subsidiaries are
responsible for adapting those policies and procedures to reflect local
conditions where appropriate, and for implementation, oversight and monitoring
within their specific businesses.

 

Disclaimer

This document is for information purposes only and does not constitute, nor is
to be construed as, an offer to sell or the recommendation, solicitation,
inducement or offer to buy, subscribe for or sell shares in Anglo American or
any other securities by Anglo American or any other party. Further, it should
not be treated as giving investment, legal, accounting, regulatory, taxation
or other advice and has no regard to the specific investment or other
objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any recipient.

 

Forward-looking statements and third party information

This document includes forward-looking statements. All statements other than
statements of historical facts included in this document, including, without
limitation, those regarding Anglo American's financial position, business,
acquisition and divestment strategy, dividend policy, plans and objectives of
management for future operations, prospects and projects (including
development plans and objectives relating to Anglo American's products,
production forecasts and Ore Reserve and Mineral Resource positions) and
sustainability performance related (including environmental, social and
governance) goals, ambitions, targets, visions, milestones and aspirations,
are forward-looking statements. By their nature, such forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Anglo
American or industry results to be materially different from any future
results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements.

 

Such forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions regarding
Anglo American's present and future business strategies and the environment in
which Anglo American will operate in the future. Important factors that could
cause Anglo American's actual results, performance or achievements to differ
materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, among others,
levels of actual production during any period, levels of global demand and
product prices, unanticipated downturns in business relationships with
customers or their purchases from Anglo American, mineral resource exploration
and project development capabilities and delivery, recovery rates and other
operational capabilities, safety, health or environmental incidents, the
effects of global pandemics and outbreaks of infectious diseases, the impact
of attacks from third parties on our information systems, natural catastrophes
or adverse geological conditions, climate change and extreme weather events,
the outcome of litigation or regulatory proceedings, the availability of
mining and processing equipment, the ability to obtain key inputs in a timely
manner, the ability to produce and transport products profitably, the
availability of necessary infrastructure (including transportation) services,
the development, efficacy and adoption of new or competing technology,
challenges in realising resource estimates or discovering new economic
mineralisation, the impact of foreign currency exchange rates on market prices
and operating costs, the availability of sufficient credit, liquidity and
counterparty risks, the effects of inflation, terrorism, war, conflict,
political or civil unrest, uncertainty, tensions and disputes and economic and
financial conditions around the world, evolving societal and stakeholder
requirements and expectations, shortages of skilled employees, unexpected
difficulties relating to acquisitions or divestitures, competitive pressures
and the actions of competitors, activities by courts, regulators and
governmental authorities such as in relation to permitting or forcing closure
of mines and ceasing of operations or maintenance of Anglo American's assets
and changes in taxation or safety, health, environmental or other types of
regulation in the countries where Anglo American operates, conflicts over land
and resource ownership rights and such other risk factors identified in Anglo
American's most recent Annual Report. Forward-looking statements should,
therefore, be construed in light of such risk factors and undue reliance
should not be placed on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date of this document. Anglo American
expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking (except as required by
applicable law, the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, the UK Listing Rules,
the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules of the Financial Conduct
Authority, the Listings Requirements of the securities exchange of the JSE
Limited in South Africa, the SIX Swiss Exchange, the Botswana Stock Exchange
and the Namibian Stock Exchange and any other applicable regulations) to
release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement
contained herein to reflect any change in Anglo American's expectations with
regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which
any such statement is based.

 

Nothing in this document should be interpreted to mean that future earnings
per share of Anglo American will necessarily match or exceed its historical
published earnings per share. Certain statistical and other information
included in this document is sourced from third party sources (including, but
not limited to, externally conducted studies and trials). As such it has not
been independently verified and presents the views of those third parties, but
may not necessarily correspond to the views held by Anglo American and Anglo
American expressly disclaims any responsibility for, or liability in respect
of, such information.

©Anglo American Services (UK) Ltd 2025.  (TM) and (TM) are trademarks of
Anglo American Services (UK) Ltd.

 

 

Legal Entity Identifier: 549300S9XF92D1X8ME43

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  AGMLBLFXEZLEBBD