Anglo American’s credit rating was upgraded to BB+ from BB on Friday by S&P Global Ratings. The ratings agency, which is expected to announce SA’s sovereign credit rating on Friday evening, gave Anglo a stable outlook. S&P said its rating action on Anglo followed the recent rally in the prices of bulk commodities, including iron ore and coking coal, which support better than expected cash flow for the mining group this financial year. S&P’s announcement came shortly after Anglo’s subsidiary Kumba Iron Ore said it expected to report on February 28 that its basic and headline earnings per share had improved by more than 20% for the year to end-December. "Our current ratings factor in the lack of clarity regarding the divestment of Kumba Iron Ore. We would consider it detrimental for the rating if the company decided to spin-off the assets to its shareholders," S&P said. S&P cut Anglo’s credit rating to junk in February, and Friday’s upgrade puts the mining group within one notch of re...
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