Glencore profits soar as trading is strong and the company targets Australian listing

Glencore reported on Wednesday a '86% increase in the first-half earnings, driven by its commodity trading business, as the Middle East conflict fuelled market volatility. It also said that it is aiming to obtain a secondary listing.

Swiss mining and trading company's adjusted earnings, before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, rose to $10.1 billion during the first half 2026. This is up from $5.43 billion a year ago and beat analysts' average estimate of $9.5 billion.

Net debt was $10.2 billion by the end June, and $11.2 billion at the year-end 2025.

In a statement, CEO Gary 'Nagle stated that the company would be applying for a secondary ASX listing after "a detailed review of opportunities to expand our investor base and increase trading liquidity." It targets?admission by October.

Glencore has also announced a special cash dividend of 8.5 cents a share,?totaling around $1 billion. This was done using the "surplus" capital from the?Bunge?shares that it received after its agribusiness Viterra merged the U.S. commodities?trader.

The company also announced that it would complete a $500 million share buyback by February 2027. This will bring the total shareholder returns for 2026 to approximately $3.5 billion. It had announced a $1 billion buyback program for the same time period in 2025. (Reporting and editing by Clara Denina, Tom Daly)

(source: Reuters)