Metals & Mining corporate month in brief: February 2015

In February, we saw several major companies report results including Anglo American, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.  Weaker commodity prices saw earnings fall for all of the diversified major miners and both capital and operating costs are being cut sharply.  Amongst the large gold producers, there were several large impairments and companies like Barrick Gold and Anglo Gold Ashanti continue to look to reducing debt and rationalising their portfolios.