A sign stands at the entrance to the offices of Anglo American Plc in the Marshalltown district of Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday, Oct. 26, 2012. Anglo American Plc Chief Executive Officer Cynthia Carroll , the first woman, external hire and non-South African to hold the job, will quit after Anglo lost $14 billion in value in the more than five years she was in charge. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Anglo American AAL.L said on Thursday it will review its assets after posting a 94% plunge in its annual profit and taking writedowns at its diamonds and nickel units.

The miner announced a $1.6 billion impairment charge on its De Beers diamond business owing to faltering demand, and an impairment of $500 million at its Barro Alto nickel mine as prices are hit by slowing demand from the electric vehicle sector.

“We are now in a process of systematically going through all of our assets in a review just to assess their role in the portfolio, their success in the portfolio, and absolutely nothing is off the table in respect of that review,” CEO Duncan Wanblad told reporters.

The review is expected to take around one year, he said.

Anglo’s shares was up 4.3% by 0830 GMT, as investors welcomed the plan.

The London-listed miner’s 2023 profit attributable to shareholders fell to $283 million from $4.5 billion a year earlier.

Anglo declared a full-year shareholder payout of $0.96 per share, totalling $500 million, down from $1.98.

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Net debt swelled to $10.6 billion from $6.9 billion, slightly below the $10.93 billion expected by analysts.

The global miner, which also produces copper, platinum group metals (PGMs), iron oreand steelmaking coal, joined most of its rivals in reporting lower full-year earnings and shareholder dividends. But cuts at some of its businesses were more extreme.

Both its South African unit Kumba Iron OreKIOJ.J and Anglo American PlatinumAMSJ.J this week announced plans to cut more than 4,000 jobs and review agreements with some 780 contractors.

“In terms of cycle timing, the two assets that are dragging the portfolio today are the PGMs and diamonds businesses,” Wanblad said.

“To make any short-term decisions, you have to be absolutely certain that there had been a structural change in either of those markets or those businesses for us to want to do something very drastic with them,” he added.

Anglo had already announced $1.8 billionin spending cuts by 2026 after logging a $1.7 billion writedown on its project to produce fertiliser nutrients in Britain.

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“The company-specific turnaround story, which could include changes to the portfolio or bringing in a partner for Woodsmith, is compelling,” Jefferies analysts wrote in a note.

(Reporting by Clara Denina and Felix Njini; editing by David Goodman and Jason Neely and Miral Fahmy)