Executive summary
The research group has undertaken an analysis of Fortescue Metal Group Limited (‘FMG’). The analysis consists of two parts. Part 1 includes a macro economic analysis which reviews FMG’s economic environment and how this impacted on its performance during the years ended 30 June
2008 to 30 June 2012. During this period FMG’s performance was primarily driven by an overall increase in the price of iron ore, underpinned by higher levels of demand for this product from
China. It is considered that continued demand for iron ore by Chinese steel producers and continued growth in China’s gross domestic product (‘GDP’) is likely to support the forecast iron ore price of USD120 per metric tonne (‘mt’) and result in future
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FMG financial report for the year ended 30 June 2013, page 8.
3
. Ibid page 47. Revenue on sale of iron ore was, USD6,479m. Total revenue was USD6,681 and included shipping revenue.
4
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/smp/2012 - RBA ‘Statement on monetary policy’ (August 2012) page 6 ‘In general, the spot price for iron ore has tended to move in line with developments in Chinese industrial production and steel production’.
5
http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=iron-ore&months=60 – webpage provides spot price data sourced from The Steel
Index and the IMF.
6
IBIS World ‘B0801 Iron Ore Mining In Australia industry report’, May 2013, page 5. ‘Demand for iron ore is closely tied to steel production and trends in economic growth that drive global demand for steel.’
7
http://www.oecd.org/sti/ind/OECD%20May12%20Summary%20%20Iron%20ore%20doc%20%283%29.pdf – OECD report on the iron ore market in 2011. At page 4 it is noted that China represented approximately 59% of total world imports for iron ore.
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historically high levels, they are expected to decline in the medium term.8 However, the price of iron ore has been forecast at around USD120 per mt out to 2018.9 During the year ended 30 June 2012
FMG shipped
Utilities – totaled $120,000.00 in year 7, and in years 7 to 8 increased +11.1% or $135,000.00. You would think this is strength if looking merely at the numbers, but in actuality it’s a negative because utilities used cost the company money. They shouldn’t have been used nearly as much because the overall usage of the manufacturing plant went down, and that makes this a firm weakness.
The market size is shrinking because of the increase in competing international steel companies. The number of rivals in America is declining due to higher labor costs than in foreign countries. There is a very fast pace of technology in the steel industry and it seems that the company, that obtains the newest technology, flourishes. This is due to the difficulty in lower costs of steel production. Better technology is one of the only ways to decrease costs because labor is pretty much at a set cost and all that is left is the cost of iron and making the steel. If a
Did you know that the mining of iron started over one and a half billion years ago? It started in Minnesota at a place now called called Masabi Iron Range. When it first started we didn't get a lot of it, but over the years we have made technology that can help us mine in better and faster. The mining of iron was very profitable, but it was also very dangerous, the mining shafts they worked in could collapse.
How did the corporation perform the past year overall in terms of return on investment, market share, and profitability?
2. What do the results say about how firms in this industry can deliver strong financial returns in different ways?
The Asia Pacific Africa market grew 3.7 percent and their market share in China soured to a record high of 4.3 percent. “Next year, Ford is on track to open its Changan Ford Assembly Plant No. 3 and Changan Transmission Plant in Chongqing, China, as well as Camacari Engine Plant in Brazil. The new Chongqing Assembly Plant will increase the company’s production capacity in China by 300,000 units next year (Ford’s 2014 Global Strategy, 2013).
BHP Billiton is the world’s top producers of major commodities. China, as BHP Billiton’s largest export market, demand strongly influences the BHP Billiton’s operation (Western Australian Iron Ore Industry Profile 2015). According to the annual report of BHP Billiton (2015), China brought about 36.6% revenue in the amount of total export revenue for BHP Billiton, among the largest product is Iron Ore, which was 66% in 2015. Meanwhile, the forecast of iron ore will continue to increase production. However, Chinese steel consumption may growth slow next few years (shows in figure 1) because the real estate industry decline (Mark 2015). Therefore, oversupply and weaker demand may create the fluctuations in commodity prices which related to commodity risk.
A result on the next page shows that at sales price of $21.50, the sales quantity rises to 1,140,085 units and net profit turns to positive for the first time. Besides, if a company continues to reduce the price further, at the point of $15.50, it is where the company’s profit on product 101 is in the highest position as it gives the net profit of $3,901,908.
As mentioned above, Australian production in iron ore expected to be strong and Indian iron ore exports expected to take off in the next few years. I expect worldwide iron ore vessel shipments to
Stevens (2015) discusses the financial challenges that Arrium faces amid falling iron ore and steel prices. As Arrium confronts a falling Australian dollar against the US currency, the article comments on the need for Arrium to counteract losses and to repay $1.7 billion of amassing debt, the majority of which is denominated in US dollars.
There are three major economic factors that have combined contribution to FMG’s growth over the past 5 years, including the strong AUD , the amazing export feature due to the Chinese boom which drives up the commodity price and the interest rate decision by RBA. Australia dollar has appeared strong for the past 5 years and maintained at $6-$6.8 level for AUD/CNY at most time. It promised a high level of foreign income for Australia exporter. In 2009, China demanded almost 60% of the world’s iron ore to produce 47% of world’s steel production. It contributes the most to the price rocket from $31.78 to $180.6 US cents/mts in 5 years time. In addition, Australia borrowing cost remains high over the past few years which may alter the finance decisions of FMG.
* Iron Ore Company of Ontario is working in the business field of processing iron ore.
Similarly, Canada, Australia and Europe are important production locations for aluminium with key sales destinations being Asia, Americas, and Europe. Rio Tinto also deals with copper, diamonds, and other by-products including silver, molybdenum, and other such as sulphuric acid, rhenium, lead carbonate, and selenium. Australia, Chile, Mongolia, North America and Indonesia are the key production locations for copper and diamond, while Australia, China, India, Japan, North America and Europe are the key sales destinations.
The graph above shows that the main exporters of metals and minerals are Germany, Italy and Belgium.