Debmarine's 38% Revenue Slump
March 24, 25
(IDEX Online) - Debmarine Namibia, the joint venture between De Beers and the Namibian government, has reported a 38 per cent slump in its 2024 revenue.
The company blamed weak global demand, especially in China and the US, cheap rough supply from Angola, and the rising popularity of lab growns.
Willy Mertens, CEO at Debmarine, said Angola had increased volumes by almost 60 per cent and dropped prices by between 30 per cent and 55 per cent.
The majority of Debmarine's production is marine diamonds, sucked from the seabed by a fleet of six ships including its most sophisticated diamond recovery vessel, the $420m vessel Benguela Gem (pictured), which started operating in 2022.
Revenue for 2024 was N$8.5bn ($624m) and EBITDA (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) fell 86 per cent to N$951m ($52m).
Production during 2024 was 2.234m carats of rough diamonds, a 4 per cent drop from the previous year.
Willy Mertens, CEO at Debmarine, said: "Despite this subdued financial performance in the past two years, our balance sheet remains robust and ready for future investment when the market returns."
But he cautioned that such a recovery may take a long time. "We have always seen a sharp and quick bounce back in the past; the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, China slowdown in 2015, COVID-19 in 2020/2021, but the current downtrend has been quite deep and prolonged. We are yet to see an uptick."