Glencore’s half-year earnings jumped as the disruption to global energy markets from the Middle East conflict delivered a near-record result to its trading arm, and the miner and commodity trader used the figures to unveil plans for a secondary listing in Australia.
Group adjusted EBITDA rose 86% to $10.1bn in the six months to 30 June, while net income attributable to shareholders swung to $4.4bn from a $655m loss a year earlier, a swing of more than $5bn.
Revenue climbed 49% to $174.4bn.
The driving force was the marketing division, where adjusted operating profit rose 142% to $3.3bn. Glencore said the escalation of the Middle East conflict sharply repriced energy markets, with the near-halt of shipments through the Strait of Hormuz triggering a scramble for alternative supplies.
This is a story similar to those of BP and Shell, both of which also benefited from rising oil prices.
Its oil and gas desk was the biggest beneficiary as dislocations rippled through LNG, oil and shipping markets. The result puts marketing on course to comfortably beat the top of its long-term annual guidance range of $2.3bn to $3.5bn.
The industrial mining arm also had a strong half, with adjusted EBITDA up 72% to $6.5bn on the back of higher commodity prices, copper up 39% and zinc 22% year on year, though a weaker dollar and higher input costs, aggravated by conflict-driven supply-chain disruption, took some of the shine off.
Glencore announced additional shareholder returns of about $1.5bn – a special cash distribution of 8.5 US cents a share, worth around $1bn, plus a $500m buyback to run to February 2027 – taking total returns announced for 2026 to about $3.5bn.
In addition, the company said it intends to apply for a secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, targeting admission in October. It argued that Australia’s deep pool of pension capital and resources-focused investor base, together with its status as one of Glencore’s most important operating jurisdictions, made a compelling case, and that it expects relatively swift inclusion in major ASX indices.