Teck Resources misses profit estimates on lower base metal prices

Canadian miner Teck Resources Ltd on Thursday reported quarterly profit slightly below analyst estimates, hurt by lower copper and zinc prices.

The ongoing U.S.-China trade war and slowing macroeconomic outlook have hurt copper prices and other base metal prices, hurting Teck’s income.

Production at its steelmaking coal operations, its biggest business, increased by about 1.6% to 6.4 million tonnes in the second quarter.

But the company slightly trimmed its steelmaking coal production guidance to 25.5 million to 26 million in tonnes in 2019, from an earlier guidance of 26 million to 26.5 million tonnes.

The Vancouver-based company said adjusted profit fell to C$459 million ($349.58 million), or C$0.81 per share, in the second quarter ended on June 30, from C$653 million, or C$1.12 per share, in the year-ago period.

Analysts on average expected the company to earn C$0.84 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Teck, which mines copper and zinc, said revenue rose by about 4% to C$3.14 billion.

($1 = 1.3130 Canadian dollars)

(By Arunima Kumar and Akshay Balan; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)