- Demand for Japanese content booms post 'Shogun'
- As India's Bollywood shifts, stars and snappers click
- Mystery drones won't interfere with Santa's work: US tracker
- Djokovic eyes more Slam glory as Swiatek returns under doping cloud
- Australia's in-form Head confirmed fit for Boxing Day Test
- Brazilian midfielder Oscar returns to Sao Paulo
- 'Wemby' and 'Ant-Man' to make NBA Christmas debuts
- US agency focused on foreign disinformation shuts down
- On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year
- 'Like a dream': AFP photographer's return to Syria
- Chiefs seek top seed in holiday test for playoff-bound NFL teams
- Panamanians protest 'public enemy' Trump's canal threat
- Cyclone death toll in Mayotte rises to 39
- Ecuador vice president says Noboa seeking her 'banishment'
- Leicester boss Van Nistelrooy aware of 'bigger picture' as Liverpool await
- Syria authorities say armed groups have agreed to disband
- Maresca expects Man City to be in title hunt as he downplays Chelsea's chancs
- Man Utd boss Amorim vows to stay on course despite Rashford row
- South Africa opt for all-pace attack against Pakistan
- Guardiola adamant Man City slump not all about Haaland
- Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Bethlehem marks sombre Christmas under shadow of war
- NASA probe makes closest ever pass by the Sun
- 11 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Indonesia considers parole for ex-terror chiefs: official
- Global stocks mostly rise in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Postecoglou says Spurs 'need to reinforce' in transfer window
- Le Pen says days of new French govt numbered
- Global stocks mostly rise after US tech rally
- Villa boss Emery set for 'very difficult' clash with Newcastle
- Investors swoop in to save German flying taxi startup
- How Finnish youth learn to spot disinformation
- South Korean opposition postpones decision to impeach acting president
- 12 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Panama leaders past and present reject Trump's threat of Canal takeover
- Hong Kong police issue fresh bounties for activists overseas
- Saving the mysterious African manatee at Cameroon hotspot
- India consider second spinner for Boxing Day Test
- London wall illuminates Covid's enduring pain at Christmas
- Poyet appointed manager at South Korea's Jeonbuk
- South Korea's opposition vows to impeach acting president
- The tsunami detection buoys safeguarding lives in Thailand
- Teen Konstas to open for Australia in Boxing Day India Test
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
- The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
- Blogs to Bluesky: social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami
- Tennis power couple de Minaur and Boulter get engaged
- Supermaxi yachts eye record in gruelling Sydney-Hobart race
- Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava
Swiss mining giant Glencore drops plan to exit coal
Swiss commodities giant Glencore announced Wednesday that it had decided against spinning off its coal business for now after consulting shareholders who view the polluting fossil fuel as a cash-generating activity.
Glencore completed its takeover of the steelmaking coal unit of Teck Resources in July following a protracted battle over the business with the Canadian company.
The Swiss mining and commodities trading group had considered merging the newly acquired business, Elk Valley Resources, with its own coal activities and spinning it off.
But Glencore said that after consulting its shareholders, most expressed a preference for retaining the coal and carbon steel materials business.
"Following extensive consultation with our shareholders, whose views were very clear, and our own analysis, the Board believes retention offers the lowest risk pathway to create value for Glencore shareholders today," chairman Kalidas Madhavpeddi said.
"The expected cash generative capacity of the coal and carbon steel materials business significantly enhances the quality of our portfolio," Madhavpeddi added in a statement.
The company said shareholders preferred to keep the coal business "primarily on the basis that retention should enhance Glencore's cash generating capacity to fund opportunities in our transition metals portfolio" such as copper.
They also concluded that it would "accelerate and optimise the return of excess cash flows to shareholders".
Oil, gas and coal companies are under pressure to transition away from fossil fuels, the biggest contributor to climate change.
While Glencore's Australian rival Rio Tinto and British group Anglo American are exiting coal, the Swiss company has a "managed decline" strategy to ensure a "responsible" phase out its coal operations.
Glencore said Wednesday that while it has decided to keep coal, its board "preserves the option to consider a demerger of all or part of this business in the future if circumstances change".
Separately, Glencore posted a $233-million loss for the first half of the year, after earning $4.6 billion over the same period last year, as commodity prices fell, "particularly thermal coal".
P.M.Smith--AMWN