JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The London office of diversified miner Anglo American on Thursday declined to comment on former Anglo CEO Tony Trahar’s vilification of current CEO Cynthia Carroll, over her passing of the final 2008 dividend – but an analyst charged that Anglo had ceased to be “blue-chip” as a result.

Anglo American spokesperson, James Wyatt-Tilby, told Mining Weekly Online from London that he had learnt as early as Wednesday of the critical comments that Trahar had made about Carroll to a Johannesburg journalist, but that he did not believe it appropriate for Anglo to comment on the criticism.

Mining Weekly Online had asked to speak to Carroll herself, but was told that she was not in London and that the matter was referred to Wyatt-Tilby. Trahar was inaccessible, but said on his website that, on leaving Anglo in 2007, he had started Bartlett Resources, which provided consultancy and strategic advisory services to the mining, financial and industrial sectors.

Trahar's criticism was levelled at Carroll in South Africa’s Financial Mail, where her decision to pass the final 2008 dividend was described as a “great mistake” and something that had “severely harmed the company’s profile with investors”.

Asked whether it was not prudent of Carroll to conserve cash by holding back on the dividend at this time, Trahar said bluntly: “It was over prudent.”

T-Sec analyst Louis Venter said: “Anglo American used to be a well-diversified, conservatively run blue-chip company, but one of the definitions of a blue chip is that a company’s dividends must keep on growing.”

Venter also levelled public criticism at Carroll during question time on February 20, when she made her shock “no-dividend” and “19 000-retrenchment” announcements.

Venter said that Carroll had “blown” $5-billion on buying back Anglo shares when their price was near the peak, "and that's where the dividend went". She had also bought into copper expensively.

“Anglo is now sitting with high debt and low cash flow, and it’s never been a better takeover target,” Venter added.

On his last day at the Anglo office on April 27, 2007, Trahar pointed out that he was leaving Anglo on a high note as the company had been rerated and that, under his watch, strategic restructuring had nudged Anglo to the fore.

The Anglo American share price fell 0,7% in Johannesburg on Thursday to R170,78 a share at the close.

After the worse-than-expected results on February 20, Anglo fell 15% in Johannesburg and 11% in London.

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