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Glencore is to give $2bn (\u00a31.47bn) to shareholders after a turbulent year in which profits slumped and talks collapsed over a blockbuster $260bn merger with the fellow mining company Rio Tinto<\/a>.<\/p>\n The FTSE 100 firm announced the payout on Wednesday despite reporting that annual profits slipped 6% on the previous year to $13.5bn.<\/p>\n It comes weeks after talks over what would have been the largest deal in mining history<\/a> collapsed, leaving the Swiss-headquartered commodities company to press ahead with a plan to more than double its copper production over the next decade.<\/p>\n Rising metals prices and an increase in copper output in the second half of the year were not enough to make up for a bruising fall in coal and energy commodity prices, which pulled earnings down.<\/p>\n Glencore, which was established in 1974 as a trading company, has operations in more than 30 countries and a workforce of about 140,000.<\/p>\n The idea of combining Rio and Glencore has been repeatedly floated over the past two decades and was raised the first time just before the global financial crisis in 2008. Rio rejected Glencore\u2019s merger approach in 2014, while another round of talks in 2024 also came to nothing.<\/p>\n The most recent attempts followed the $53bn deal between Anglo American and the Canadian rival Teck<\/a> last September, which brought two of the world\u2019s largest copper producers together.<\/p>\n Despite the failed deal, Gary Nagle, Glencore\u2019s chief executive, said last year brought \u201csignificant progress\u201d and pointed to \u201cclear momentum for our copper-led growth strategy\u201d.<\/p>\n