| Fri 25 Apr 2003, 15:44 | | Anglo American plc - Annual General Meeting 2003 |
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Anglo American plc
(Incorporated in accordance with the laws of England and Wales)
Registered number 3564138
JSE Code: AGL
ISIN Code: GB0004901517
(The "Company")
Anglo American plc - Annual General Meeting 2003
Address to shareholders by the Chairman and Chief Executive
At Anglo American plc"s Annual General Meeting for shareholders in London today
(25 April 2003), Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman, and Tony Trahar, Chief
Executive, made the following remarks:
Sir Mark Moody-Stuart:
"This is my first Anglo American AGM, having been invited to join the Board last
July and I succeeded Julian Ogilvie Thompson as Chairman at the beginning of
December 2002. I would like to start by paying tribute to Julian whose career
spanned 46 of the Anglo American Group"s 86-year existence and who served as
Chairman for 13 years. It was his vision and sense of strategy which made
possible Anglo American"s transformation from a South African conglomerate into
a focussed global mining and natural resources company. We wish him a happy and
serene retirement.
During my nine-month association with the Company, I have found, as I expected
from my knowledge of the company"s history, an organisation of strong values and
principles, where clear written statements find expression in peoples"
behaviour. During these nine months, I have already visited a significant number
of our operations and will shortly be visiting our Latin American assets. I
have been impressed by our physical assets; by the technical expertise found
across the Group; and by the quality and commitment of our managers and
employees at all levels. Progress is being made too in realising greater value
from the synergies available to the Group in areas like talent management,
procurement, sustainable development and knowledge management.
At last year"s meeting, Julian Ogilvie Thompson highlighted the importance for
the future of our businesses of the Global Mining Initiative Conference and of
the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Both of these events are now
behind us and, I believe, the industry has emerged in a better position in terms
of aligning itself with the expectations of our stakeholders and wider society.
Historically, the extractive industries have shown, in the US, Canada and
Australia for example, how they can be a motor for development. Today, when
coupled with good governance in countries like Botswana, South Africa, Chile,
Mozambique and Tanzania mining is providing a major opportunity for development.
Conversely, there have been too many examples where the poor management of
natural resource revenues has led to the exclusive enrichment of a narrow elite,
or has helped to fuel conflicts. The long-term sustainability of our business
argues for us to do all that we can to ensure that, at a local and regional
level, the development opportunities which our investments create are maximised.
In addition, at a national and international level, Anglo American welcomes
moves, such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative instigated by
the UK Government. This seeks to improve the governance of the tax and
royalties generated by the exploitation of natural resources.
It was pleasing to note that the declaration which emerged from the Johannesburg
Summit singled out the contribution which mining can make to development. The
Plan of Implementation agreed by all governments stated that "Mining, minerals
and metals are important to the economic and social development of many
countries. Minerals are essential for modern living". This support was rightly
conditional on addressing the environmental impact of our industry and ensuring
that the benefits flow to society as a whole. I believe that the leading
companies in the industry have made considerable progress in aligning our
businesses with the objectives of sustainable development.
Finally, a word about the corporate governance agenda. The fall-out from the
bursting of the dotcom bubble and the impact on pensions of the fall in Stock
Markets has created a sour mood towards capitalism. The scandals at Enron and
WorldCom, and corporate failures nearer to home, have led to a raft of new
initiatives to "reform" corporate governance. Some of these amount to a
sensible re-balancing but there is a risk that some of the measures taken,
whether in the US or in the UK, may prove to have been misdirected. Only time
and reflection will tell whether the new balance is the right one. Nevertheless
your Board has judged it right to make changes which reflect the major
recommendations of the Higgs Report. Thus, it is proposed that Mr Rob Margetts
will take over as Senior Non-Executive Director from Sir David Scholey, who has
fulfilled the role since 1999 and for which we thank him. Mr Margetts will
continue as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee but will hand over the
Chairmanship of the Audit Committee to Mr David Challen. I will also be passing
the Chairmanship of the Nominations Committee to Mr Fred Phaswana. Dr Chris Fay
will continue in his longstanding role as Chairman of the Safety, Health and
Environment Committee.
I believe that your Board constitutes an able, well-balanced team. During 2002,
the non-executive ranks were strengthened by the addition of Mr David Challen,
Mr Fred Phaswana and Professor Karel van Miert. As I made clear in my comments
in the Annual Review, a notable exception is the absence of a woman on the board
and we shall be moving to address this issue during the year. This will at the
same time, ensure that, excluding me, half of the Board will consist of
independent non-executive directors. The Nominations Committee will be working
on this in the coming year.
I will now ask Mr Tony Trahar, our Chief Executive, to provide the meeting with
an overview of the progress made by the Company during 2002 and to highlight
what he regards as the key issues for Anglo American going forward."
Tony Trahar:
"Thank you Chairman and good morning ladies and gentlemen.
I am pleased to report that in 2002, Anglo American achieved record headline
earnings of 125 US cents per share - up 10% on the EPS achieved in 2001.
Overall headline earnings for 2002 were US$1,759 million compared with US$1,681
million in 2001. This result was achieved despite difficult economic and
trading conditions for a number of our key businesses and was particularly
pleasing when compared with those reported by our peer group companies. It
suggests that the mix of assets which we have assembled - following four active
years of acquisitions and disposals - is well placed to secure good shareholder
returns through the cycle. Thus, although our coal and platinum businesses
experienced lower prices in 2002, their results were more than offset by higher
contributions from our gold, forest products, industrial minerals, ferrous
metals and diamond interests and a turnaround from loss to profit from base
metals.
In terms of our progressive dividend policy and in the light of these record
profits, we are able to recommend increasing the final dividend to 36 cents,
resulting in the total dividend increasing by 4% to 51 US cents per share. On
the basis of our current share price, this amounts to an annual dividend yield
of 3.45%.
We have continued with our drive to deliver greater efficiencies and to reduce
costs. This resulted in further savings for the year of US$279 million of which
$154 million came from operating efficiencies, US$77 million from restructuring
and synergies and US$48 million from improved procurement. I believe that our
continuing search for cost savings, efficiencies and innovation is becoming
ingrained within the organisation and is a vital part of running our businesses
and adding value for shareholders in the face of difficult economic conditions.
During 2002 we spent US$3.7 billion on acquisitions. The major items were:
the acquisition of the Disputada Copper mines in Chile for US$1.3 billion;
the purchase of a controlling stake in the Russian paper mill at Syktyvkar and
some 50% of the assets of the French packaging operator, La Rochette;
increasing our stake in Anglo Platinum from 59.6% to 67.7%, a figure which, we
announced on 10 February, we had subsequently raised to almost 70%; and
increasing our holding in Goldfields to over 20%.
Anglo Coal also increased its stake in Cerrejon Coal in Colombia and formed a
joint venture in Australia with Mitsui based around the Moura mine. In
addition, our Ferrous Metals division completed the acquisition of Moly-Cop to
establish an international grinding media business supplying the mining
industry.
We also continued to pursue our objective of establishing a presence in the iron
ore market. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the South African
Government affirming our shared commitment to the expansion and development of
the iron ore resources of the Northern Cape - including a significant
empowerment dimension. This aspect of our strategy is still subject to review
by the South African competition authorities.
The Company continues to have one of the biggest, high quality project pipelines
for organic growth in the resources sector. Most notable amongst these are
Anglo Platinum"s (SAR 22 billion) expansion projects which will increase output
by 75% to 3.5 million ounces of refined platinum by the end of 2006.
During 2003 a number of key projects will reach fruition with the commissioning
of the new Copebres plant in Goias in Brazil; the opening of the Skorpion zinc
mine in Namibia and the completion of the new cement plant at Buxton in
Derbyshire. We are steadily achieving a broader geographical balance in our
asset base with about 31% of our assets now being in South Africa and 69% in the
rest of the world.
A major inhibiting factor in our share price performance during 2002 was the
uncertainty surrounding the changes to mineral rights ownership and black
economic empowerment legislation in South Africa.
We fully acknowledge that the future stability of South Africa requires a much
broader base of ownership amongst historically disadvantaged groups. However,
significant damage was caused to investor confidence by the leaking of an early
draft of the Empowerment Charter - which contained what were generally agreed to
be unfinanceable targets. What has emerged, after discussion and consultation,
is a target of 15% equity or production ownership within 5 years and 26% in 10
years for value. This is achievable and will provide stability going forward.
There remain some uncertainties about how the various elements contained in the
Empowerment Charter will be applied but progress has been made in rebuilding
confidence.
Anglo American continues to play a leading role in corporate South Africa in
promoting black economic empowerment including through:
Procurement spending of US$800 million from black-owned businesses;
Developing the leading small business programme in South Africa; and
Participating in over US$1.8 billion in black economic empowerment transactions.
We are disappointed by the relatively high royalty levels proposed for some
commodities in South Africa in the draft Money Bill. We believe that in some
sectors the proposals may both damage the international competitiveness of
existing operations and reduce the relative attraction of South Africa as an
investment destination. We are engaging with the South African authorities as
part of industry efforts to achieve a reasonable outcome.
Ladies and gentlemen, I should like to mention four items related to the
corporate responsibility agenda. You will find these issues covered more fully
in our recently published "Report to Society".
Firstly, I am pleased to report a significant improvement during 2002 in our
safety statistics so that we are now achieving world class standards in most of
our operations. We are relentlessly pursuing the goal of improved safety and in
2002 achieved a 42% reduction in our lost time injury frequency rate and a
reduction of 39% in our fatal injury frequency rate.
Secondly, our "Good Citizenship" Business Principles have now been rolled out -
in 22 languages - across the Group. They make clear to our employees the
standards of behaviour to which we expect to perform and, to external
stakeholders, the standard to which they can hold us to account. The roll-out
of the Principles is being supported by a number of specific programmes designed
to ensure that performance in areas like community relations and the development
of our employees lives up to our aspirations.
Thirdly, in August 2002, we announced our intention to make anti-retroviral
therapies available to those of our staff who are HIV positive and where ART is
clinically indicated. We have taken a leading position internationally on this
issue and we believe that, by making such treatments available, we are making a
substantial contribution to challenging the stigma and denial which complicate
the task of tackling the HIV/AIDS epidemic. We are seeking to bring other
partners to the table, so as to spread the availability of ART more widely.
Finally, you may have seen media reports about an attempt to involve Anglo
American in the apartheid-related US "class actions" which are being taken
against more than 70 international companies. We entirely reject the
allegations made against us and should such a case ever proceed to trial, we
will contest it vigorously.
Our subsidiary, Anglo American Corporation of South Africa, was in the forefront
of those who opposed the apartheid system. We adopted progressive positions on
issues like the recognition of black trade unions and access to education. Our
role in the peaceful transition to the new South Africa has been widely
recognised. We firmly believe that our opposition contributed to bringing about
an end to the apartheid system. Anglo American Corporation has also taken a
leading role in addressing the problems faced by historically disadvantaged
South Africans through the Business Trust, the Anglo American Chairman"s Fund
and our black economic empowerment initiatives. We agree with the South African
Government that the question of accounting for the past and building for the
future is a matter best resolved through South Africa"s own democratic and
constitutional processes, rather than through actions in US courts. In
concluding on this issue, I can do no better than to quote from President
Mbeki"s speech last week to the South African Parliament when he said:
"The South African Government is not, and will not, be party to such litigation.
We find it unacceptable that matters that are central to the future of our
country should be adjudicated in foreign courts, which bear no responsibility
for the well-being of our country."
We concur entirely with this view.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I comment briefly about the prospects for 2003? At
the presentation of our annual results for 2002 I commented on the sensitivity
of our results to volatility in commodity prices and exchange rates and noted
that the strength of the South African currency in particular would make it very
challenging to sustain our record 2002 performance.
I reiterate this comment despite the financial results for the first quarter
2003 being similar to those for the same period last year. The South African
currency averaged R8.35 to the dollar during the first quarter and has
strengthened even further in recent weeks and, at R7.25 to the US$, is about 40%
higher against the US$ than at the commencement of 2002. This currency
situation, with the generally muted state of the world"s economies, means that
the outlook for our key businesses is mixed and, notwithstanding the good first
quarter results, it therefore remains unlikely that the group will repeat the
record performance achieved last year.
Overall, Chairman, I believe that we are making good progress in realising our
strategic objectives. Our asset mix is performing well, we are conservatively
geared and we have the potential to continue to build shareholder value through
a mix of judicious acquisitions, organic growth and realising cost savings and
synergies across the Group.
Thank you."
Election/re-election of directors and committee changes
At the AGM, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Mr DJ Challen and Mr FTM Phaswana were
elected directors and Sir David Scholey retired by rotation and was re-elected
to the Board.
As announced in the Annual Report and referred to above, certain changes were
today made to the membership of Board sub-committees and the composition of
these committees is now as follows:
AUDIT COMMITTEE
D J Challen (Chairman )
Dr C E Fay
R J Margetts
F T M Phaswana
Prof. K A L M Van Miert
SAFETY, HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT
COMMITTEE
Dr C E Fay (Chairman)
B E Davison
R M Godsell
G Lindahl
Sir Mark Moody-Stuart
W A Nairn
Sir David Scholey
A J Trahar
REMUNERATION COMMITTEE
R J Margetts (Chairman)
D J Challen
Dr C E Fay
F T M Phaswana
NOMINATION COMMITTEE
F T M Phaswana (Chairman)
Sir Mark Moody-Stuart
R J Margetts
N F Oppenheimer
Sir David Scholey
Prof. K A L M Van Miert
For further information:
Anglo American - London
Investor Relations Media Relations
Nick von Schirnding Kate Aindow
Tel: +44 207 698 8540 Tel: +44 207 698 8619
Anglo American - Johannesburg
Investor Relations/Media Relations
Anne Dunn
Tel: +27 11 638 4730
25 April 2003
Notes to Editors:
Anglo American plc is one of the world"s largest mining and natural resource
groups. With its subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates, it is a global
leader in gold, platinum group metals and diamonds, with significant interests
in coal, base and ferrous metals, industrial minerals and forest products. The
group is geographically diverse, with operations in Africa, Europe, South and
North America and Australia.
(www.angloamerican.co.uk).
