London, June 25, 2026, 09:25 BST
- Shares hovered around 519 pence, off 0.5% in early London trading.
- Glencore is down 11.4% over the past four weeks, while copper dropped 5.7% in the same period.
- Rio Tinto’s standstill ends in August. Glencore might look to open talks with BHP as well.
Glencore shares slipped 0.5% to 519 pence at 0920 BST, company data showed. The stock started the session at 513.9 pence and moved back up to just under 520 pence. Glencore’s market cap was around 61 billion pounds.
Glencore shares dropped 4.2% Tuesday and slid another 2.5% Wednesday, putting the two-day loss at 6.7%. Volume moved up as well, climbing from 44.6 million to 54.3 million shares over those sessions.
The relative shift can’t be chalked up just to copper. Glencore shares have dropped 11.4% in the past four weeks. Copper slid 5.7% in a month, although it picked up 1.1% to $6.01 per pound on Thursday. That leaves Glencore stock about 5.7 points lower than the metal. The spread points to investors cutting Glencore’s takeover and execution premium more quickly than its commodity risk.
Shares moved in a range of 510.5 pence to 524.22 pence on Thursday. With the FTSE 100 up 0.14%, the wider London market didn’t do much to offset the fall.
Rio Tinto plc LON:RIO executive Jérôme Pécresse would not comment this week on the possibility of a future deal with Glencore, noting only that the six-month standstill period runs out in August. Asked about Rio’s lithium projects, Pécresse said, “We want to show that we can build on time and on budget.” Reuters
BHP Group Ltd ASX:BHP could see a friendly approach from Glencore, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with Glencore’s thinking. Both BHP and Glencore said they would not comment. “BHP’s valuation premium positions them well to pursue M&A,” CLSA analyst Baden Moore said. Reuters
Glencore’s operating outlook has gotten better. The miner’s first-quarter copper output jumped 19% to 199,600 tonnes, helped by higher African ore grades and more production at Antamina in Peru. The company said its marketing business is on track to beat the top end of its full-year earnings target. Cobalt output, though, dropped 39% after Glencore shifted focus to copper at its mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Glencore left its 2026 copper guidance unchanged at 810,000 to 870,000 tonnes. The group said 52% of annual output should come in the second half, supported by stronger ore flow and more desalinated water at Collahuasi. For cobalt, Glencore’s 2026 export quota is 22,800 tonnes, factoring in unused 2025 allowances. Any surplus has to stay in the DRC.
Glencore posted 2025 adjusted EBITDA at $13.51 billion and net debt at $11.17 billion. CEO Gary Nagle put annualised free cash flow at around $7 billion if spot commodity prices hold. The miner aims to lift yearly copper output above 1 million tonnes by the end of 2028, reaching about 1.6 million tonnes in 2035.
Nagle isn’t shying away from M&A. “I do believe that consolidation can be good for our shareholders,” he said after the Rio talks fell apart. Glencore also said it plans to return $2 billion to shareholders. Net debt stayed above the company’s target of about $10 billion. Reuters
Berenberg’s Richard Hatch said, “better to buy producing assets rather than to wait to build new mines.” George Cheveley, portfolio manager at Ninety One—an investor in Glencore—said Rio “struggled to articulate copper growth beyond 2030,” while Glencore had a project pipeline. Reuters
