It’s strangely truncated, has a cast of junior journalists and random commentators and the quoted numbers are mostly wrong but in its iron ore do up on the weekend the AFR managed to convey that Fortescue’s Nev Power is a hypocrite for his recent attack on the expansions of the iron ore majors:
Very thin but probably overdue given the dream run given to FMG by Jennifer Hewitt this year.
Over at ANZ’s own media outlet, Blue Notes, Mark Pervan explains why he’s been so wrong on iron ore prices this year, including no let up on FMG:
Meanwhile, CFO Stephen Pearce is in damage control at The Australian over the firm’s now likely rising debt:
FORTESCUE Metals Group chief financial officer Steve Pearce believes the iron ore miner can still make more early debt repayments this financial year, even if iron ore prices do not improve.
Mr Pearce told The Australian the miner was well prepared for a series of upcoming one-off payments and could make further inroads into its debt by June 30.
…Mr Pearce said he was unconcerned by the rise in net debt given the company had been holding cash in anticipation of the tax payment, had made significant inroads into its gross debt and continued to generate solid cashflow. “I would love to think we could make some additional debt repayments in this financial year,” Mr Pearce said.
Lot’s of words to be eaten in the next eighteen months. Including those of Ivan Glasenberg, from Bloomie:
Ivan Glasenberg, the billionaire chief executive officer of Glencore Plc, has argued his two biggest rivals have got it wrong by feeding a global glut of iron ore.
The world’s largest producers, including BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group, are fueling a 25 percent increase in output, and “that’s what’s killing the super-cycle,” Glasenberg said two months ago in London.
That criticism is cold comfort for coal producers suffering as Glencore, the biggest exporter of the power-station fuel, raises output even as prices dipped to the lowest in five years last week.
“There’s certainly a tension there and that certainly provides ammunition for those that would say ‘look this is simply talk, not walk,’” Paul Gait, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd. in London, said by phone.
Glencore’s coal output increased 5 percent in the first half from 12 months earlier and production this year will be 14 percent higher than 2012, according to a Sept. 29 presentation to analysts by the Baar, Switzerland-based company.
Nothing but the ownership would change if he got a hold of RIO.
