The move follows a price-drop test run in Q4 and comes with the addition of a “quality assurance card” from GIA for some loose diamonds.
Alrosa’s 2016 Revenue Up 41% as Rough Demand Recovers
Increased demand for rough diamonds and a weaker ruble also helped profit increase fourfold for the miner.
Moscow--Alrosa said rough diamond demand was up last year, helping buoy growth and recovery for the company in its full-year results.
The rough diamond miner said its 2016 revenue increased by 41 percent year-over-year, totaling $5.50 billion. Net income increased fourfold over the prior year to $2.32 billion on a weaker ruble and increased demand.
Diamond sales (including both gem quality and industry quality rough diamonds) were up 33 percent during the year to 40 million carats.
Meanwhile production was down 2 percent in during the year, decreasing from 38.3 million carats in the prior year to 37.4 million in 2016.
“2016 was a year of active recovery in the diamond market following the decline of 2015,” Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Igor Kulichik said. “The company managed to deliver record-high financial performance and generate net cash flow sufficient to repay short-term and medium-term liabilities and pay out dividends to shareholders.”
The earnings release also allowed for the first comments from the rough diamond miner’s new CEO, Sergey Ivanov, since taking the position.
The 36-year-old replaced Andrey Zharkov, who left before his contract expired and reportedly had been feuding with Russia’s finance ministry over the company’s budget.
Ivanov said he is committed to implementing Alrosa’s plan to increase production to more than 40 million carats and reduce costs, among other things.
In 2017, the company said it plans to raise production by 6 percent to 39.2 million carats.
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