Company news in brief

AngloGold Ashanti posts profit jump

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd reported a 21% rise in interim earnings yesterday as a solid performance from its Kibali joint venture, lower costs and a high gold price helped counteract lower output in South Africa.

Its best performing mines included the Kibali mine in Democratic Republic of Congo, Geita mine in Tanzania and Tropicana mine in Australia, AngloGold Ashanti said.

Kibali is co-owned by AngloGold, Barrick Gold and DRC's state-owned Societe Miniere de Kilo-Moto.

The South African gold miner's headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months ended June 30 rose to 29 cents from 24 cents a year earlier, in line with the company's guidance.

The miner employs around 6 000 people in South Africa where mining companies have faced volatile labour relations, rising costs, regulatory disruptions and technical issues. – Nampa/Reuters

Nigeria helps Coca-Cola performance

Swiss-based soft drink bottler Coca-Cola HBC AG fell way short of market expectations for operating profit in the first half of 2019, hit by sluggish growth in its established markets and an unseasonable start to the European summer.

HBC, which produces Coca-Cola drinks under franchise for 28 mostly European markets and is one of the world's biggest soft-drinks bottlers, said net sales revenue rose 3.8% to 3.35 billion euro (US$3.76 billion) for the six months ended June 28, beating company supplied estimates of 3.34 billion euro.

But it reported a 4.9% dip in operating profit to 288.9 million euro, missing company supplied estimates of 319.8 million euro.

With the euro zone economy slowing and consumers in some of its markets facing the threat of Brexit, the company reported a rise of just 0.4% in volumes in its established markets.

That was outstripped by greater demand in Nigeria and other emerging markets in eastern Europe, which got a boost at the end of June from the first days of one of the hottest summers on record. – Nampa/Reuters

New York Times forecasts weakness in digital ads

The New York Times Co fell short of Wall Street estimates for revenue on Wednesday and warned of declines in digital advertising for the rest of the year, sending its shares down 12%.

The outlook overshadowed a better-than-expected second-quarter profit, helped by the 167-year old newspaper's efforts to make money from digital subscribers to counter a relentless decline in readership of its broadsheets.

Total revenue rose 5% to US$436.3 million, missing analysts' average estimate of US$438.7 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The Times added 197 000 digital-only subscribers in the quarter, pushing total subscriptions to 3.78 million. Its digital advertising revenue rose about 14%.

The paper has been aggressively rolling out offers to boost online subscriptions as more companies increasingly shift their ad dollars away from print to digital platforms such as Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook Inc. – Nampa/Reuters

Africa setbacks shrink Glencore's profit

Glencore reported a 32% drop in first-half core profit on Wednesday, sending its shares to their lowest since late 2016, while a fall in cobalt prices prompted it to halt output for two years at the world's biggest mine of the battery material.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were US$5.58 billion for the six months ended June 30 against US$8.18 billion a year earlier.

Chief executive Ivan Glasenberg blamed "a challenging economic backdrop for our commodity mix" and setbacks during the ramp-up of operations in Africa.

Cobalt, which was meant to be part of Glencore's strategic advantage as the world switches to electrification, has become a liability.

Supplies are concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Glencore is in a dispute with the government over a mining law. It is also subject to a US Department of Justice investigation.

Explaining the rationale for placing the Mutanda copper and cobalt mine in the DRC on "care and maintenance" from the end of this year for an expected two years, Glasenberg said there was "a mix" of reasons, including DRC's revised mining code, which Glencore is challenging. – Nampa/Reuters

Adidas reports disappointing results

German sportwear company Adidas reported disappointing second-quarter sales yesterday but confirmed it expects a recovery in the second half after it stemmed a decline in Europe and saw its long-struggling Reebok brand recover.

Second-quarter sales rose a currency-adjusted 4% to 5.51 billion euro (US$6.18 billion), slightly shy of average analyst forecasts for 5.54 billion as the company saw a strong fall in the soccer category a year on from the World Cup.

Adidas had already warned in March that supply chain issues would hit sales growth in the first half, citing particular problems meeting North America demand for mid-market clothing.

The company said it was confident sales would accelerate in the second half, allowing it to confirm a full-year outlook for currency-neutral sales growth of 5%-8% and net income from continuing operations of between 1.88 and 1.95 billion euro.

Quarterly net profit from continuing operations rose 10% to 462 million, helped by another quarter of strong growth for e-commerce, where sales rose 37%. Margins are higher for online sales than wholesale. – Nampa/Reuters