Canadian miner Teck Resources Ltd. slashed its half-yearly dividend and posted quarterly profit below analysts’ estimates as prices for steel-making coal and copper remained depressed.
Coking coal prices remain at multiyear lows, with spot prices falling close to $90 a tonne, hurt by oversupply and lower demand from chief buyer China. Several U.S. and Australian producers have shuttered production.
The company said average realized prices for coal fell 19 per cent to $106 per tonne in the quarter, while average realized prices for copper fell more than 17 per cent to $2.64 per pound.
Teck warned in February it would reduce its dividend in July if industry-wide cuts in the production of steel making coal failed to lift prices from historically low levels.
Teck cut its dividend to 15 cents per share from 45 cents.
Last month, Teck poured cold water on speculation that it was in talks to merge or acquire Antofagasta PLC, a rival miner, saying while it had looked at opportunities none have met its criteria.
Net profit attributable to shareholders fell slightly to $68-million, or 12 cents per share, for the first quarter ending March from $69-million a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned 11 cents per share.
Analysts on average expected adjusted earnings of 14 cents a share on revenue of $2.03-billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue at Vancouver-based Teck, the world’s second-largest exporter of seaborne steel-making coal, fell nearly 3 per cent to $2.02-billion.
Teck’s Toronto-listed shares are down 31 per cent over the past year. Year-to-date the stock is up 6.5 per cent.
