Wednesday May 12, 6:49 am Eastern Time
Rio Tinto sees difficult 1999
LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - Mining house Rio Tinto Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: RIO.L) said on Wednesday that 1999 would be another difficult year, but noted that, generally, volumes were higher in the first quarter than the same period last year.
''I wish that I could be as optimistic about near-term market conditions as I am about the long-term soundness and strength of our operations,'' Chairman Robert Wilson told shareholders at the company's annual meeting.
''There has been little as yet to change what I said in the annual report, so 1999 will clearly be another difficult year for this company,'' he added.
Shares slipped after the statement to trade 23-1/2p, or 2.4 percent, lower at 982-1/2p.
Wilson said that commodity prices so far this year have been lower than the 1998 averages.
''Demand is still firm and generally our volumes in the first quarter this year were higher than in the first quarter of last year though down on the fourth quarter of 1998,'' he said.
The Anglo-Australian mining giant reported in February a 1998 year net profit before one-off items of $1.103 billion, down from $1.22 billion in 1997.
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