Vancouver — Robust commodity prices continue to fuel Teck Cominco’s (TCK.B-T, TCK-N) revenue engine, delivering strong third-quarter net income of $504 million ($2.34 per share), up from $405 million ($2.00 per share) for the same period last year.
Coming on the heels of record second-quarter income of $613 million, the latest quarter pushes the company’s 9-month earnings to $1.6 billion, almost doubling that of last year. Teck Cominco’s treasury (cash and short-term investments) was boosted by $243 million in this year’s third quarter, to stand at $3.8 billion.
Strong copper and zinc prices (averaging US$3.48 and US$1.53 per lb., respectively, in the third quarter) bolstered performance, despite a weather-related shortfall in zinc concentrates shipped from the Red Dog mine in Alaska. Teck Cominco shifted some of the concentrate sales into the fourth quarter and early 2007.
The third quarter was marked by the expiration of the company’s unsolicited bid for Inco (N-T, N-N). However, Teck anticipates a pretax gain of $135 million in the fourth quarter with net proceeds of about $430 million on the sale of its Inco shares to the winning suitor, Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO-N).
The company also moved to quickly settle a potential labour disruption with unionized employees at its Highland Valley copper mine near Kamloops, B.C. A 5-year collective agreement was ratified.
Shares of the Vancouver-based miner closed at around $82.50 on release of its quarterly report. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $49.01-$87.75.
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