Anglo American writes down De Beers by another $2.3bn

(Sharecast News) - Anglo American wrote down the value of its troubled De Beers unit by another $2.3bn, weighing on group annual earnings. The mining giant is trying to sell the business amid weak demand from China and the growing market in synthetic diamonds. It reported impairments of $2.9bn and $1.6bn in 2025 and the previous year respectively.

After the latest impairment the world famous brand's value has now been halved to $2.3bn. Anglo on Friday added that it was progressing with the separation of De Beers - in which it has an 85% stake. Underlying losses at the unit $511m from $25m in 2024 as "rough diamond trading conditions remained challenging".

Underlying group core earnings rose 2% to $6.4bn, but net losses came in at $3.7bn including the De Beers impairment. Higher copper prices offset a 10% decline in production of the metal due to lower grades and plant maintenance.

The final dividend was slashed by 27% to 16 cents a share, for a total of 23 cents a share, down 64%.

Copper production was lower due to issues in Chile, with lower ore grades and copper recovery at its Collahuasi mine while the Los Bronces operation was hit by lower plant throughput as a plant underwent planned maintenance.

Anglo is in the process of merging with Canada's Teck Resources in a $50bn merger.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com