De Beers Earnings +5%, H1 Sales –7% to $3.4 billion
July 27, 07
Diamond miner De Beers today (Friday) released interim results for the six months ending June 30. Total sales for the period were $3,402 million, a decrease of 7 percent from the $3,680 million of the same period in 2006.
Production year-to-date increased 2 percent to 25.3 million carats from last year’s 24.7 million carats for the corresponding period.
The company’s underlying earnings were $324 million, an increase of 5 percent from last year’s $308 million.
In a broadcast conference call Friday, De Beers said that they are in the process of examining the full judgment of the EC court decision annulling a deal that ended De Beers’s rough diamond trade agreement with Russian diamond miner Alrosa, adding that it is far too early to determine what the ruling’s impact will be.