28th Sep 2018 17:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - Firestone Diamonds PLC on Friday reported a significantly narrowed annual loss on vastly increased production and last year's impairment charge being taken off.
In the year ended June 30, Firestone narrowed its pretax loss to USD17.5 million from USD130.0 million.
The company's financial year 2017 included a USD122.6 million impairment charge.
Firestone increased its production to 3.8 million tonnes from 2.0 million tonnes the year before.
Resulting in increased sales of USD62.2 million from USD27.8 million. The price achieved, however, was lower at USD75 from USD90.
Chief Executive Officer Paul Bosma said: "The 2018 financial year was an eventful one, marking the first full year as a diamond producer at Liqhobong. Having concluded a USD25.0 million fundraising at the end of December 2017 and restructuring our ABSA debt facility, we entered the second half of the financial year on a much stronger financial footing. We had an exceptional final quarter from an operational perspective, and I am pleased to say that this trend has continued into the 2019 financial year. I look forward to providing an update on the first quarter of 2019 results towards the end of October. We continue to evaluate our life of mine plan to assess the viability of an extension."
Shares in Firestone Diamonds closed down 6.5% Friday at 4.32 pence each.
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