* Focus on project growth, sees $98 bln spend to double
production
* Reports 2011 op profit of $11.1 bln vs $9.76 bln year-ago
* 2011 underlying EPS $5.06 vs forecast $4.78, $4.13
year-ago
* Dividend up 14 pct to 74 cents a share
* Shares up 1.3 percent
By Clara Ferreira-Marques
LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Global miner Anglo American
dashed hopes that it would use cash generated in South
Africa to offer a special dividend, instead sweetening its
regular payout on the back of a 14 percent rise in full-year
profit.
Record operating profit from iron ore, its largest division,
and record income from coal helped offset a drop in copper,
where higher prices at the start of the year were not enough to
offset disappointing production and escalating costs.
The miner, which forecast continued short term economic
uncertainty, posted an operating profit of $11.1 billion for
2011, broadly in line with a market forecast of $11.2 billion.
Underlying earnings per share jumped 23 percent to $5.06.
Continued…
