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Fibre cement maker James Hardie reports 2% drop in second-quarter profit
James Hardie, a fibre cement manufacturer, reported a 2% decline in its second quarter profit on Tuesday. The company attributed the drop to a weaker single-family housing market and inventory reductions that are ongoing in North America. Nigel Stein will take over as chairman of the board on November 17 after Ryan Lada, who succeeds Rachel Wilson, has been named as chief financial officer. James Hardle cited a challenging business environment. This included a modest decline in net organic sales in the siding and trim segment and a lower manufacturing utilization rate in its North America operations. All of this was compounded by a slowing single-family housing market. The company raised its net sales forecasts for the full year for its siding and trim division. This was its biggest contributor to the quarter. It attributed this increase to stabilised market conditions and normalised inventories. The Dublin-based firm reported a net profit of $154 millions for the three-month period ended September 30 compared to $157 million in 2013. This was a significant increase over the Visible Alpha consensus estimate, which was $144.2 million. The company's siding and trim division is expected to generate net sales of between $2.925 billion and $2.995 billion in fiscal 2026. This is up from the previous forecast range of $2.675 to $2.850. (Reporting and editing by Vijay Kishore in Bengaluru, Adwitiya Shrivastava from Bengaluru)
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Rio Tinto will reduce Yarwun's alumina production by 40% starting in October 2026, to prolong the plant's life.
Rio Tinto, Australia's largest alumina refinery company, announced on Tuesday that it would cut production at its Yarwun plant in Queensland by 40 percent starting October of next year. This will extend the life of the plant to 2035 while allowing time for modernization. Under current production rates, Yarwun’s tailings storage facility, which is used to store mining waste, will reach full capacity in 2031. The company said it had looked into options for a new tailings facility but that the required investment was "substantial" and "not currently economically viable." Rio Tinto stated that the reduction will affect around 180 positions. It added that it was actively working to relocate and reassign employees who are affected. According to the company, about 725 employees work at the refinery. The company stated that the production cut would reduce annual alumina production by approximately 1.2 million metric tons, but assured customers that their needs will not be affected. In 2024, the company expects to produce 7.3 million tonnes. Rio Tinto said that its bauxite mining operations and aluminium smelters would continue to run at full capacity.
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US announces new approach to proxy disputes, seen by activist shareholders as a blow
On Monday, the top U.S. financial regulatory body changed the grounds for which companies can request permission to skip voting on shareholder resolutions. This is seen as making things more difficult for activists who want to force votes about controversial topics like climate change or workplace diversity. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on its website that it will no longer rule on common proxy objections such as whether or not an activist's request was filed late, or if the filer owns enough shares. The SEC stated that there is an exception if a company claims jurisdictional reasons, such as state law, which gives them grounds to exclude a particular item. Last month, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins - an appointee by President Donald Trump - suggested that many shareholder proposals were improper under Delaware law. According to Erik Gerding of Freshfields, who was the director of the division until last December, the new policy and Atkins views will lead companies to rely on the state exemption when filing their requests. Gerding stated that "this could be the end for shareholder proposals, as we know it," if Delaware courts and the state legislature support Atkins' view. SEEKING RESURANCE Around this time every year, companies begin to ask the SEC Division of Corporation Finance if they can be assured they won't face enforcement action for leaving shareholder resolutions out of their annual meeting ballots. They are granted permission about half of the time. Recent shareholder meetings have been dominated by resolutions addressing topics like workforce diversity and emission, despite the fact that top investors' support has declined in recent years. Fund leaders claim that their support is less needed because companies have recently implemented voluntary reforms on issues of environmental, social, and governance. Republicans have criticized ESG efforts. This year, the agency took other steps to reduce activist influence. Sanford Lewis, a lawyer who represents ESG activist, said that nearly all proposals can be blocked if there is an "extreme attack on shareholder rights". He said that activists might focus on challenging individual directors. A spokesperson for the SEC said in an email that the decision was made "after thoroughly considering staff resources and timing issues, as well as the role of the staff in the shareholder proposal processes." The spokesperson stated that "with over 900 filings and registration statements received during the shutdown of the government, this decision allows staff to focus their attention on transactional issues, such as capital formation and investor safety, which are time sensitive." Caroline Crenshaw - the only Democrat at the SEC - said in a statement that Monday's changes were "more of a gift to the issuers rather than an exercise on resource allocation." It is also an act of hostility towards shareholders.
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Sources: Chevron is a contender to buy Lukoil assets.
Five sources familiar with this process said on Monday that the U.S. oil giant Chevron was examining options to purchase global assets from sanctioned Russian oil company Lukoil. Last week, the U.S. Treasury cleared potential buyers to speak to Lukoil regarding foreign assets. Chevron will join Carlyle, and other firms to compete for Lukoil's portfolio of at least $20 billion. Last month, the United States imposed sanctions against Russia's two largest oil companies, Lukoil & Rosneft, in an effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to force Moscow to peace talks with Ukraine. Five sources confirmed that Chevron was looking at options to purchase assets from Lukoil in areas where they overlap, rather than buying the entire portfolio. The sources asked to remain anonymous as they were not permitted to speak with the media. Chevron has never been reported to have an interest. Chevron stated that it adheres to all laws and regulations relevant to its business. It does not comment on any commercial issues. Lukoil produces 2% of the world's oil at home, but also abroad. The company has announced that it is looking for buyers of its international assets. These produce 0.5% of oil globally and are valued at $22 billion based on filings from 2024. Sources told us last week that Carlyle, a U.S.-based private equity firm, is one of the companies exploring options for buying Lukoil’s foreign assets. Lukoil owns three refineries in Europe and oilfields in Kazakhstan (Uzbekistan), Iraq (Mexico), Ghana, Egypt, Nigeria and Ghana. It also has hundreds of retail fuel station around the globe, including the United States. Lukoil is a shareholder in both the Karachaganak and Tengiz fields in Kazakhstan. These fields are also owned by Chevron Exxon Mobil Eni Shell. The fields are a major source of crude oil for the CPC Pipeline, which transports more than 1.6 millions barrels of crude per day, or 1,5% of the global demand for oil, to the global markets via Russia. Lukoil has also a stake (50%) in the Nigerian offshore licence OML-140 that is operated by Chevron. Lukoil's Finland-based petrol chain Teboil said Monday that it expected its ownership to be changed as part of Lukoil's efforts in selling international assets. Lukoil operates the West Qurna 2 in Iraq where Exxon operated the West Qurna 1, which was adjacent to it, before leaving last year. Three Iraqi energy officials said on Monday that the Iraqi government was considering requesting a six-month waiver of sanctions from the U.S. Treasury to give Lukoil more time to dispose of its stake in West Qurna 2. Iraq has ruled the possibility of the state purchasing Lukoil’s stake in this project. (Additional reporting from Jarrett Renshaw; Sheila Dang; Shadia Nasralla, Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Editing by Jan Harvey & Nia Williams.
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Environmental group: Tyson Foods will stop making carbon emission claims
Tyson Foods agreed to cease claiming it would reach zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050, and to stop marketing beef as climate-friendly in order to settle a suit that accused the U.S. Meat Company of misleading consumers. The nonprofit Environmental Working Group announced this on Monday. The Environmental Working Group reported on Monday that companies have been accused of "greenwashing," where they present an image of environmental responsibility to the public. In the lawsuit filed by Environmental Working Group, Tyson's Brazen Beef brand was cited as an example of misleading advertising. The company claimed that this was the only beef product that had received U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approval for a “climate-friendly” claim, by demonstrating a 10% decrease in greenhouse gas emission during the production process compared to other meat. Tyson was accused of misleading consumers by claiming that its beef products are "climate-smart". The lawsuit filed in 2024 also claimed that Tyson had failed to present a plan that would allow it to reach net-zero. According to an agreement with Environmental Working Group, Tyson won't repeat or make new claims until they have been verified by an expert mutually agreed on. Caroline Leary is the chief operating officer and general counsel of the group. She said, "This settlement confirms that consumers deserve honesty from corporations shaping our food systems." A spokesperson for the company said that Tyson Foods did not admit any wrongdoing. The decision to settle was taken to avoid the cost and distractions of ongoing litigation. Tyson, according to the agreement, denied the group’s claims and said that the company had invested over $65 million in reducing greenhouse gas emissions related to its beef products. Letitia J. James, New York's Attorney General, announced this month that JBS USA had agreed to pay $1.1m to settle claims it had misled the public by claiming to have achieved net zero emissions in 2040. A French court ruled in October that oil giant TotalEnergies had misled consumers with a 2021 advertising campaign which claimed it would become carbon neutral by the year 2050. (Reporting and editing by Will Dunham; Tom Polansek)
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Investors focus on US data as gold prices fall
The gold price fell on Monday as a result of the stronger dollar, and investors' reduced expectations for a U.S. rate cut in January. Investors were also awaiting delayed economic data that could provide clues about the Federal Reserve policy. As of 1:45 pm, spot gold was down by 0.3%, at $4,068.37 an ounce. ET (18:45 GMT). U.S. Gold Futures for December Delivery settled 0.5% lower, at $4.074.5 an ounce. Dollar-priced gold is now more expensive for holders of currencies other than the dollar. David Meger said that there is "some choppy trading" on the market ahead of what will be expected to be an avalanche of economic data, now that the U.S. Government has reopened. "Right Now, there is a lower expectation of additional Fed rate reductions, which has dented gold's optimism." The calendar for this week includes the September jobs data, which will be released on Thursday, and the minutes of Fed's most recent meeting, in which it lowered rates by 25 basis points, on Wednesday. A growing number of Fed policymakers are hawkish about rate cuts at the next central bank meeting in December. The CME FedWatch tool revealed that traders are now pricing in a probability of 41% for a rate cut of 25 basis points in December. This is down from 60% last week. Four Fed speakers are scheduled to speak in the afternoon, including Governor Christopher Waller, and New York Fed president John Williams. Gold is an asset that does not yield any interest, so it tends to do well in low-interest rate environments. Analysts at Scotiabank estimate that gold prices will be $3,800/oz in 2026 compared to $3,450/oz currently, citing an uncertain economy and a possible decline in interest rates. Palladium fell 0.9% and platinum 0.2%, while spot silver increased 0.6%. (Reporting from Bengaluru by Pablo Sinha; Additional reporting by Sarah Qureshi, Editing by Shilpa Majumdar).
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EU's EIB will work with Australian Government on Critical Raw Materials
In a statement released on Monday, the European Investment Bank of the EU and Australia's government announced that they would intensify their cooperation in relation to critical raw materials as Western powers struggled to reduce their dependence on China. Except for Japan, Group of Seven and EU countries are heavily or exclusively dependent on China to supply a wide range of materials, from rare earth magnets (REMs) to battery metals. European officials and sources from the industry say that financing is a major obstacle in the efforts of the EU to secure its supply chain for strategic minerals. The EU's list for strategic projects does not receive any financial benefit. On December 3, the European Commission will present an extensive package of economic security. The statement stated that "this declaration is the first of many steps towards enabling EIB support for critical mineral projects in Australia." "It" furthers existing cooperation between Australia and EU across the crucial raw materials value chains - from exploration, extraction to recycling and innovation. Early this year, the EIB created a task force dedicated to supporting project development for critical materials with a goal to double group financing. This year, the G7 led by Canada formed a Critical Minerals Production Alliance, bringing together like-minded nations. In October, they agreed to mobilize both public and private funds to accelerate graphite production, rare earth element production, and scandium. Australia, a country with vast mineral reserves offered to sell its shares in a new strategic stockpile of minerals to G7 countries. Last month the U.S., Australia, and Canada committed $3 billion for mining and processing projects and a price ceiling for critical minerals. This was a long-awaited step by Western miners. Both countries will sign off on financing which includes offtake rights. Canada also signed offtake agreements for graphite and scandium with Australian miner Rio Tinto and Quebec's Nouveau Monde Graphite. (Reporting and editing by Matthew Lewis in Brussels)
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The international funding has stalled, putting the Indonesian coal phase-out program at risk
The top Indonesian official in charge of the program said that the plan to retire coal-fired plants with a capacity of 6.7 gigawatts by 2030 is likely to fail due to the stalled funding from rich nations. The Just Energy Transition Partnership, a coalition of ten donor countries, promised to raise $20 billion for Indonesia in three to five year by 2022. This was once called the "single largest climate finance transaction." The sum was to include funds to retire coal-fired plants that represented 13.5% of Indonesia's total power capacity. Paul Butarbutar (JeTP Indonesia Secretary) said that no one has committed to financing the phase-out of coal at the COP30 Climate Summit in Brazil. Butarbutar stated that if no one is willing to step in and finance the phase-out of coal, we may have to consider whether this is the best option. The Indonesian problem, as the seventh largest coal-fired electricity producer in the world and Southeast Asia's biggest economy, highlights broader concerns about climate finance among developing countries, which have been slow to materialize. U.S. WITHDREW FROM JETP According to a draft report published by the initiative last month, Indonesia's JETP approved $2.85billion in loans and equity and $186.9m in grants for grids and renewables and efficiency as well as electric-powered transportation. However, no funds to retire coal power plants have been approved. The United States, Japan, and the European Union were among the 10 donors. Since then, the United States has withdrawn. Japan, which coordinates the JETP for Indonesia program with Germany, has not responded to requests for comment. The German press office stated that it was working with Indonesia "to identify the most effective and political feasible ways to reach the JETP objectives." Germany's Press Office said that JETP Indonesia has entered its implementation phase and is currently receiving over $6 billion of financing. The statement added that donors have pledged $19.53 billion of the $20 billion original pledge. Commitments are not the same as disbursements. South Africa and Vietnam have also JETP programs. Many countries oppose global proposals to phase-out fossil fuel subsidies because they say that these help eradicate poverty. Butarbutar didn't say how much money Indonesia would need to close 6.7 GW. HOW TO REPLACE COAL-FIRED PLANTS? Butarbutar added that JETP is also researching how to replace coal-fired power. If it's solar, where should the power plant be located in Java? Who would pay the initial costs if geothermal was to be replaced? Java is the most densely-populated area of the archipelago. Butarbutar stated that the U.S. withdrawal of the Indonesia JETP had nothing to do in relation to the struggle to phase out coal. Butarbutar stated that about $2.56 billion was managed by the Asian Development Bank under the Energy Transition Mechanism – a deal not related to JETP – and about half of this would be required to retire the 660 megawatt Cirebon-1 east of Jakarta. Cirebon-1 closure is being delayed after an unmet deadline last year. (Reporting and editing by Sudarshan Varadhan, Richard Valdmanis and Rod Nickel.
The Canadian oil sands became one of the lowest-cost plays in North America
The use of giant shovels, driverless vehicles and a robot that looks like a dog have helped Canada's Oil Sands companies, including Imperial Oil and Suncor, become some North America's low-cost oil producers. This has been achieved despite the fact that U.S. Shale costs rose due to the highest inflation rates in decades. Canada's oil sands sector is in a strong position as the global oil market enters a downward spiral due to economic uncertainty caused by U.S. Tariffs and OPEC+ pumping out more barrels. International oil majors such as BP, Chevron, and Total sold their oil sands interests after the 2014-15 oil price crash. The Canadian operations were viewed as one of their most expensive and, therefore, less profitable projects around the world. They allocated their capital towards cheaper oil production and preferred U.S. shales for their quicker drilling times and higher returns.
According to industry insiders, and an analysis of recent U.S. company earnings and Canadian company earnings, since then, new technologies and cost-cutting initiatives have led to meaningful improvements in the industry's competiveness, making oil sands one of the cheapest producers. U.S. oil companies have responded to the drop in oil prices by reducing rigs and capital expenditures as well as laying off employees. However, Canadian oil sands companies, due to their position of strength, have not made any changes to production or investment plans. As part of an effort to boost the Canadian economy, some politicians have called for a new pipeline to transport crude oil from Alberta to Pacific coast.
Cenovus CEO Jon McKenzie stated in an earlier interview that the lower crude oil prices have had little impact on Canada's oil sector. He said that the industry has grown more resilient over time. Two four-legged robots, each named Spot due to their canine-like appearance, prowl Imperial’s 45-year old Cold Lake facility in Alberta. They perform routine equipment inspections and maintainence such as heat exchanger optimizing and oil/water interface monitoring. Spots allow Imperial to save CDN$30 ($22) million a year and free up workers for other tasks. Exxon's Imperial and Suncor, a competitor of Imperial, have both switched to autonomous vehicles to transport ore from oil sands. Imperial said that the switch had increased oil production productivity at its Kearl oil-sands mine in Alberta by 20% since 2023. Suncor's Fort Hills operation, north of Fort McMurray in Alberta, operates a truck weighing 900 tonnes, which is, according to the company, the largest hydraulic mining shovel in the world. Suncor CEO Rich Kruger stated that the shovel’s larger bucket and stronger digging force result in faster ore loading, and less spillage.
Oil sands companies have also improved equipment reliability and performance. Imperial, for instance, has cut costs associated with turnarounds - an industry term for costly maintenance periods that require temporary shutdown of production - by CDN$100m annually at Kearl since 2021. The company aims to increase the interval between turnarounds to 48 months. Suncor attributes efforts such as standardizing maintenance across mines, and improving site water management to get more output out of existing assets to its US$7 reduction per barrel in the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), break-even price by 2024. The company now expects to achieve this at $42.90. According to Bank of Montreal, Canada's five largest oil sands firms can achieve break-even and maintain dividends at WTI prices of between $43.10-$40.85.
This means that oil sands companies have reduced their costs by about $10 per barrel over the past seven years. According to BMO, oil sands averaged $51.80/bbl from 2017 to 2019.
A recent Dallas Federal Reserve study of more than 100 oil and gas firms in Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana found, on the other hand, that shale producers require an average WTI oil price per barrel of $65 to drill profitably. In 2017-2019 the break-even price for U.S. oil shale producers was between $50 and $52 a barrel.
High Start-up Costs but Long Lifespan
The nature of the extraction is a major reason why the oil sands sector has become so competitive. In some places, the process of extracting the oily sands in Alberta is more like mining than oil drilling.
Companies operate huge mines to remove huge quantities of sand, clay, and oil from the area where the oil is close to the surface. Steam is used to loosen deposits underground and then a drilling method is used when the oil deposit is deep. Oil sands mining has high initial costs, but can be operated for many decades at very low rates of production decline. Canadian Natural Resources had, by the year 2024, proved and probable reserves of 20.1 billion barrels equivalent oil in its portfolio. This gave its oil sands upgrading and mining assets a lifespan of 43 more years. The Horizon oil sands mining operation has been in production since 2009.
Shale oil, on the other hand, has low startup costs. The oil production from these wells begins to decrease within a few months. After years of drilling, the top shale field has been exhausted. Drillers have moved onto secondary areas and are drilling more wells in order to get the same amount of output. This has pushed up prices.
Canadian oil sands firms have also reduced their debt over the last five years. This has allowed them to redirect profits from improving balance sheets towards dividends and share buybacks.
Bank of Montreal reports that oil sands companies Canadian Natural Resources (CNR), Suncor, Cenovus Imperial Oil, MEG Energy and Cenovus have a combined net debt of C$33.9billion, excluding any lease obligations, after they paid down almost C$22billion in debts between 2021-2024.
Kevin Burkett, Portfolio Manager at Vancouver-based Burkett Asset Management, says that Canadian oil sands producers offer increasing returns for investors looking to profit from the energy sector.
Burkett, whose portfolio includes Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus, said that Canada's oil-sands are "not geopolitically dangerous" and have "some very attractive characteristics in terms of productivity and cost."
(source: Reuters)