Vancouver, BC – Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TECK.A and TECK.B, NYSE: TECK) (“Teck”) reported profit attributable to shareholders of $1.3 billion ($2.23 per share) and adjusted profit attributable to shareholders of $466 million ($0.81 per share) in the third quarter compared with profit of $584 million ($1.01 per share) and adjusted profit of $605 million ($1.05 per share) a year ago.
“We continued to advance our key growth initiative and strengthen our financial position by receiving regulatory approval for our Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 project, closing the $1.2 billion Waneta Dam sale and reducing our outstanding notes by US$1 billion,” said Don Lindsay, President and CEO. “Our operations continued to perform well, although commodity prices for all our key products declined during the third quarter, resulting in lower adjusted earnings and EBITDA compared with the second quarter of this year."
Highlights and Significant Items
- Profit attributable to shareholders was $1.3 billion ($2.23 per share) in the third quarter compared with $584 million ($1.01 per share) a year ago. Adjusted profit was $466 million ($0.81 per share) in the third quarter compared with $605 million ($1.05 per share) in the third quarter of last year.
- EBITDA was $2.1 billion in the third quarter compared with $1.4 billion in the third quarter of 2017. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.2 billion in the third quarter compared with $1.4 billion in the same period a year ago.
- Gross profit was $1.0 billion in the third quarter compared with $1.1 billion a year ago. Gross profit before depreciation and amortization was $1.4 billion in the third quarter compared with $1.5 billion in the third quarter of 2017.
- Plant performance at Fort Hills has exceeded expectations and we expect full year production to be near the high end of our guidance for 2018.
- We received regulatory approval for our Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 (QB2) project in late August with a unanimous vote from Chilean authorities, a major step forward in advancing the project. Our search for an additional partner for QB2 continues to advance and our objective is ultimately to hold a 60–70% interest in the project. We are encouraged by our progress and continue to consider that a transaction may be announced in the fourth quarter of 2018.
- In July, we completed the sale of our two-thirds interest in the Waneta Dam to BC Hydro for $1.2 billion cash. We recorded a pre-tax gain of $888 million, with no cash taxes payable on the transaction.
- In August, we purchased US$1.0 billion principal amount of our near-term debt maturities, reducing the outstanding balance to US$3.8 billion. We recorded a CAD$26 million pre-tax charge on the transaction.
- Customer sales in steelmaking coal in the third quarter were strong and would have significantly exceeded our guidance of 6.8 million tonnes. However, reduced volumes due to operating problems at Westshore Terminals once again negatively affected deliveries by approximately 250,000 tonnes and our revenues by approximately $55 million.
- The Red Dog concentrate shipping season is expected to be complete in late October. We expect to ship approximately 1.05 million tonnes of zinc concentrate and 175,000 tonnes of lead concentrate, representing all of the concentrate available to be shipped from the operation.
- In early October, we received regulatory approval to renew our normal course issuer bid allowing us to purchase up to 40 million of our Class B subordinate voting shares during the period starting October 10, 2018 and ending October 9, 2019.
- For the ninth straight year, we have been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, indicating that our sustainability practices are in the top 10% of the 2,500 largest companies in the S&P Global Broad Market Index.
- Our liquidity remains strong at over $5.7 billion inclusive of $1.8 billion in cash at October 24, 2018 and US$3.0 billion of undrawn, committed credit facilities.
- We have updated our guidance for certain production items, unit costs and capital expenditures. Further details are located in the Guidance section.
Download/view Q3 2018 Report for the full text of this release.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements as defined in applicable securities laws (collectively referred to in this news release as “forward-looking statements”). All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Teck to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements, including under the headings “Outlook,” that appear in various places in this release, include estimates, forecasts, and statements as to management’s expectations with respect to, among other things, anticipated global and regional supply and demand for our commodities, production, sales and unit cost guidance and forecasts for our products and individual operations, capital expenditure guidance, capitalized stripping guidance, mine lives and duration of operations at our various mines and operations, our statement that we are well positioned for ongoing profitability and strong cash flows, our expectation that coal production volumes can be adjusted to reflect market demand, potential to extend the mine life at Cardinal River, planned 2018 capital spending relating to the Elk Valley Water Quality Plan and timing of recommissioning of the West Line Creek Active Water Treatment Facility, potential of our R&D projects to significantly reduce capital and operating costs for water treatment in the Elk Valley, anticipated completion date for the D3 mill project at Highland Valley, timing of development and partnering decisions for Quebrada Blanca Phase 2, Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 mine life and production capacity projections, expected spending and activities on our Project Satellite properties, the timing of a decision statement regarding the Frontier Project, costs, timing and mill throughput benefit of the Red Dog VIP2 project, impact of certain accounting initiatives and estimates, all guidance appearing in this presentation including but not limited to the production, sales, unit cost and capital expenditure guidance under the heading “Guidance”, the sensitivity of our profit and EBITDA to changes in currency exchange rates and commodity price changes, the expectation that our efforts have helped insulate our company from the effects of price volatility and the statement that there is a positive outlook for the company, the expectations regarding the number of Class B shares that might be purchased under the normal course issuer bid and demand and market outlook for commodities and our products. These forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties and actual results may vary materially.
These statements are based on a number of assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions regarding general business and economic conditions, the supply and demand for, deliveries of, and the level and volatility of prices of, zinc, copper and steelmaking coal and other primary metals and minerals as well as oil, and related products, the timing of the receipt of regulatory and governmental approvals for our development projects and other operations, our costs of production and production and productivity levels, as well as those of our competitors, power prices, continuing availability of water and power resources for our operations, market competition, the accuracy of our mineral reserve and resource estimates (including with respect to size, grade and recoverability) and the geological, operational and price assumptions on which these are based, conditions in financial markets, the future financial performance of the company, our ability to attract and retain skilled staff, our ability to procure equipment and operating supplies, positive results from the studies on our expansion projects, our steelmaking coal and other product inventories, our ability to secure adequate transportation, including rail and port service, for our products, assumptions that rail and port services perform adequately, our ability to obtain permits for our operations and expansions, and our ongoing relations with our employees, business partners, joint venturers and communities in which we operate. Assumptions regarding Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 are based on current project assumptions and the final Feasibility Study. Assumptions regarding the benefits of SRF and R&D efforts to reduce water treatment costs are based on the assumption that technologies will work on a wide scale. Assumptions regarding the costs and benefits of the VIP2 project include assumptions that the project performs as expected. Our Guidance tables include footnotes with further assumptions. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive. Events or circumstances could cause actual results to vary materially. Announcement of any partnering transaction regarding QB2 will depend on several factors, including, but not limited to, status of negotiations and reaching an acceptable outcome in those negotiations.
Factors that may cause actual results to vary materially include, but are not limited to, changes in commodity and power prices, changes in market demand for our products, changes in interest and currency exchange rates, acts of governments and the outcome of legal proceedings, inaccurate geological and metallurgical assumptions (including with respect to the size, grade and recoverability of mineral reserves and resources), unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications or expectations, cost escalation, unavailability of materials and equipment, government action or delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, adverse weather conditions and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters), union labour disputes, political risk, social unrest, failure of customers or counterparties (including logistics suppliers) to perform their contractual obligations, changes in our credit ratings, unanticipated increases in costs to construct our development projects, difficulty in obtaining permits, inability to address concerns regarding permits of environmental impact assessments, and changes or further deterioration in general economic conditions. Our Fort Hills project is not controlled by us and schedules and costs may be adjusted by our partners, and timing of spending and continued development is not in our control. Current and new technologies relating to our Elk Valley water treatment efforts may not perform as anticipated. Purchases of Class B shares under the normal course issuer bid may be affected by, amount other things, availability of Class B shares, share price volatility, and availability of funds to purchase shares.
Statements concerning future production costs or volumes are based on numerous assumptions of management regarding operating matters and on assumptions that demand for products develops as anticipated, that customers and other counterparties perform their contractual obligations, that operating and capital plans will not be disrupted by issues such as mechanical failure, unavailability of parts and supplies, labour disturbances, interruption in transportation or utilities, adverse weather conditions, and that there are no material unanticipated variations in the cost of energy or supplies. Statements regarding anticipated steelmaking coal sales volumes and average steelmaking coal prices depend on timely arrival of vessels and performance of our steelmaking coal-loading facilities, as well as the level of spot pricing sales.
We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required under securities laws. Further information concerning risks and uncertainties associated with these forward-looking statements and our business can be found in our Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2017, filed under our profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and on EDGAR (www.sec.gov) under cover of Form 40-F, as well as subsequent filings that can also be found under our profile.
Scientific and technical information regarding our material mining projects in this quarterly report was reviewed, approved and verified by Mr. Rodrigo Alves Marinho, P.Geo., an employee of Teck. Mr. Marinho is a qualified person, as defined under National Instrument (NI) 43-101.
WEBCAST
Teck will host an Investor Conference Call to discuss its Q3/2018 financial results at 11:00 AM Eastern time, 8:00 AM Pacific time, on Thursday, October 25, 2018. A live audio webcast of the conference call, together with supporting presentation slides, will be available at our website at www.teck.com. The webcast will be archived at www.teck.com
Download/view Q3 2018 Report for the full text of this release.
Investor Contact:
Fraser Phillips
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Strategic Analysis
604.699.4621
fraser.phillips@teck.com
Media Contact:
Marcia Smith
Senior Vice President, Sustainability and External Affairs
604.699.4616
marcia.smith@teck.com
18-39-TR
