VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TECK.A and TECK.B, NYSE: TECK) (“Teck”) reported unaudited⁽¹⁾ adjusted EBITDA^{(2) (3)} of $4.3 billion in 2019 compared with $5.4 billion in 2018. Our 2019 unaudited adjusted profit attributable to shareholders^{(2) (3)} was $1.6 billion ($2.77 per share) compared with $2.4 billion ($4.13 per share) in 2018. In the fourth quarter, adjusted profit attributable to shareholders was $122 million ($0.22 per share) compared with $500 million ($0.87 per share) in the fourth quarter of last year.
“Ongoing global economic uncertainty negatively impacted commodity prices in the fourth quarter and that has continued into 2020, exacerbated by the effect on markets from the Coronavirus and the impact of severe weather conditions in British Columbia, followed by blockades on rail lines,” said Don Lindsay, President and CEO. “Our focus remains on those aspects of our business within our control including executing on our Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 and Neptune Bulk Terminals expansion projects, taking steps to improve our steelmaking coal logistics chain, controlling costs and implementing our RACE21^TM program, which has exceeded initial expectations.”Significant ItemsAdjusted profit attributable to shareholders in 2019 was $1.6 billion ($2.77 per share), compared with $2.4 billion ($4.13 per share) in 2018. Profit attributable to shareholders in 2019 was $339 million ($0.61 per share) compared with $3.1 billion ($5.41 per share) a year ago.Adjusted profit attributable to shareholders in the fourth quarter was $122 million ($0.22 per share) compared with $500 million ($0.87 per share) in the fourth quarter of last year. In the fourth quarter, we had a loss attributable to shareholders of $891 million, or a $1.62 loss per share, compared with a profit of $433 million ($0.75 per share) a year ago.Our adjusted EBITDA was $4.3 billion in 2019 compared to $5.4 billion in 2018 and our annual EBITDA^(2) (3) was $2.5 billion in 2019 compared with $6.2 billion in 2018. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $649 million compared with $1.3 billion last year. We had an EBITDA loss of $755 million in the fourth quarter, compared with EBITDA of $1.2 billion a year ago.Our loss in the fourth quarter included non-cash, after-tax impairments charges of $999 million, including $910 million relating to our interest in Fort Hills (resulting from lower market expectations for future oil prices), $75 million relating to our Cardinal River Operations and $14 million relating to the remaining assets of the cathode operations at Quebrada Blanca. For 2019, total non-cash, after-tax impairment charges were $1.1 billion.Our RACE21^TM innovation-driven business transformation program has implemented initiatives aimed at achieving $160 million in annualized EBITDA improvements as of the end of 2019 based on commodity prices at December 31, 2019, exceeding our initial target of $150 million. At prices in effect when the program was implemented on May 31, 2019, the annualized EBITDA improvements associated with these initiatives would have been $184 million.Under our cost reduction program, we achieved $210 million of capital and operating cost reductions during the fourth quarter against our target of $170 million.Construction at QB2 continues with over 7,500 people actively working across the six major construction areas on the project. Although the project continues to target first production in the fourth quarter of 2021 with ramp-up to full production expected during 2022, there have been delays in the schedule primarily due to permitting and social unrest, which will also affect cost. A new baseline schedule is being developed in conjunction with an updated capital estimate planned for the first quarter of 2020.Our liquidity remains strong at $5.8 billion, including $532 million in cash at February 20, 2020, of which $270 million is on deposit in Chile for the development of the QB2 project. We paid our regular base dividend of $0.05 per share, which totaled $27 million in the quarter.The US$2.5 billion limited recourse project financing to fund the development of QB2 closed in the fourth quarter. With funding from the project financing and the partnering transaction with Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. and Sumitomo Corporation, our next contributions to project capital are not expected until early 2021.We were recognized as one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations by Corporate Knights in January 2020, and in February 2020, we announced an objective to be carbon neutral across all operations and activities by 2050.Our first quarter 2020 steelmaking coal sales are being negatively affected by severe weather in British Columbia causing rail and port terminal performance issues and by blockades on rail lines. The estimated impact on first quarter sales is expected to be in excess of 1.0 million tonnes. We have included our first quarter 2020 sales guidance along with our 2020 annual guidance for production, unit costs and capital expenditures in our Guidance tables on pages 38 to 41 in the full unaudited annual and fourth quarter results at link below.Notes:
(1)    All financial information in this news release is unaudited.
(2)    Non-GAAP Financial Measure. See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section for further information.
(3)    See “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section for reconciliation.This news release is dated as at February 20, 2020. Unless the context otherwise dictates, a reference to “Teck,” “the company,” “us,” “we,” or “our” refers to Teck and its subsidiaries. Additional information, including our annual information form and management’s discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2018, is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.This document contains forward-looking statements. Please refer to the cautionary language under the heading “CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS” below.
Profit (Loss) and Adjusted Profit
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