GENEVA (AP) — The chief executive of Glencore says the Swiss mining and metals company is better positioned than ever after core profits rose 48 percent last year amid recovering commodity prices and cost cutting policies.

The Baar, Switzerland-based company reported net income before exceptional items of $1.99 billion in 2016, against $1.34 billion the year before when Glencore was mired in debt and considered by some as on the brink of collapse.

CEO Ivan Glasenberg pointed Thursday to "increasingly favorable fundamentals." Glencore said it expects "sustained" reduction in zinc and copper cost structures into this year.

Glencore also said it's raised $6.2 billion thanks to a cost-cutting program launched in September 2015, including the $3.1 billion sale of half of its agriculture business.

Glencore's share price in London was up 5 percent.