Monday 16 September 2013 4:10 am

Sparkling results for Petra Diamonds as production soars

Diamond company Petra Diamonds has seen revenue increase by 27 per cent, from $316.9m in 2012 to $402.7m this year. (Release)

Production was up by 21 per cent to 2,666,305m carats, with profits glistening at $52.5m (up from $8.4m in 2012).

Whilst other commodity markets have experienced degrees of turbulence over the last few years, the diamond market has remained relatively stable, with this year particularly good. Prices of rough diamonds have essentially not risen this year and the market is expected to stay firm.

Supply of rough diamonds is still squeezed, with the approximately 30 significant kimberlite diamond mines in the world often past their production peak.

Increase in demand continues, with growing urbanisation and middle classes within emerging markets, particularly in Asia.

CEO Johan Dippenaar commented:

FY 2013 marked a further year of solid growth in terms of production, revenue and the underlying profitability of the Group, as well as the acceleration of our major expansion programmes at Finsch and Cullinan, in line with expectations. We have kept our costs and capital expenditure well controlled, maintaining our robust financial position. We continue to deliver on our strategy to build a world-class diamond group, with production of circa 3 million carats expected for FY 2014, rising to 5 million carats by FY 2019.