Glencore earnings surge on trading windfall, plans Australian listing

By Clara Denina and Tom Daly

LONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Glencore beat forecasts on Wednesday with an 86% leap in first-half earnings, driven by its commodity trading business as conflict in the Middle East fuelled market volatility, and said it plans a secondary listing in Australia.

The Swiss miner and trader's adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation jumped to $10.1 billion from $5.4 billion a year earlier, topping analysts' average forecast of $9.5 billion.

The results highlighted the strength of Glencore's marketing business, with first-half segmental adjusted EBIT of $3.3 billion already near the top of its full-year guidance range. The company said the Middle East conflict had created constraints across global energy markets.

Glencore shares were up 3.9% at 0800 GMT.

Unlike most major miners, Glencore combines mining operations with a large commodity trading business. The division generated a record $6.4 billion of adjusted EBIT in 2022, when the Ukraine war triggered similar market dislocations.

The industrial segment contributed $6.5 billion in adjusted first-half EBITDA, up 72%, helped by higher commodity prices, even as the Middle East conflict drove up costs for diesel, sulphur and sulphuric acid beyond normal inflation.

AUSTRALIA LISTING

CEO Gary Nagle said Glencore would seek a secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange after a detailed review of opportunities to broaden its investor base and boost trading liquidity. The company is targeting admission in October.

"We had a recent uptick in interest in our stock ... a request from many investors to meet with us after some of the discussions that had happened about Rio (Tinto)," Nagle told reporters, referring to recent failed merger talks.

Glencore also declared a special cash distribution of 8.5 cents per share, worth about $1 billion, using the surplus capital from the Bunge shares it received when its agribusiness Viterra merged with the U.S. commodities trader.

It announced a new $500 million share buyback to be completed by February 2027, bringing total announced shareholder returns for 2026 to about $3.5 billion. The company had announced a $1 billion buyback for the same period of 2025.

M&A

The first-half results coincide with the expiry of a six-month standstill agreement covering renewed merger talks with Rio Tinto. Glencore has long sought a transformational deal, but repeated attempts to combine with the Anglo-Australian mining giant have failed.

The latest effort collapsed in February after months of negotiations over a tie-up that would have created the world's largest mining group. Glencore said the terms undervalued its copper business and growth pipeline, while Rio said the proposal did not offer enough value for its shareholders.

Nagle said Glencore was "always open and interested in looking at M&A, whether it makes sense for our company and our shareholders," but added its current focus was expanding its copper portfolio while maintaining fossil fuel coal as a core part of the business.

Based on current commodity prices and expected second-half volume growth, particularly in steelmaking coal, Glencore expects full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA of about $19.7 billion.

(Reporting by Clara Denina and Tom Daly. Editing by Louise Heavens and Mark Potter)