28th Jan 2019 08:45
LONDON (Alliance News) - Mining firm Petra Diamonds Ltd said Monday interim revenue rose as diamond production and sales both increased, though net debt has grown amid cash flow pressure.
For the six months ended December, revenue rose 8.0% to USD207.1 million from USD191.7 million the year prior.
This was after diamond production expanded 9.5% to 2.0 million carats from 1.8 million carats the year before. Diamonds sold jumped 15% to 1.7 million carats from 1.5 million the year prior, but rough diamond prices reduced by around 4%.
Petra continues to forecast annual production of between 3.8 million and 4.0 million carats. For the year ended June 2018, Petra produced 3.8 million carats of diamonds.
Capital expenditure fell 41% to USD40.6 million from USD69.4 million the year prior. Net debt rose 7.0% to USD557.2 million from USD520.7 million six months earlier after "positive" operating cash flow was held back by a number of costs.
"Petra has delivered solid production in the first half of financial year 2019 underpinned by a continued improvement in safety performance," Chief Executive Johan Dippenaar said.
"We are seeing production reaching consistent levels while our focus remains on the delivery of operational and capex efficiencies in order to generate positive free cashflow and subsequent debt reduction."
Shares in Petra were 9.1% lower at 40.83 pence on Monday.
Related Shares:
Petra Diamonds