Alrosa, Russia’s diamond monopoly, grew its net profit 40 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018 to Rbs33.2bn on the back of strong sales amid an improving global diamond market.
Diamond sales went up 43 per cent in the last quarter to 13.4m carats even as production decreased, with the company selling 6m carats from its stockpile. That allowed Alrosa to grow its ebitda eight per cent to Rbs48bn year-to-year, eight per cent more than analysts’ consensus estimates.
Alrosa’s free cash flow went up by 19 per cent to Rbs41.1bn after the company sold a number of non-core gas assets. Net debt fell by 4.6 times year-on-year to Rbs18.6bn as a result of the sale.
“Alrosa’s excellent financial performance in Q1 2018 is largely due to improved market conditions, which we were able to fully benefit from, and stringent cost control,” said Sergei Ivanov, Alrosa’s chief executive.
State-run Alrosa is the world’s largest rough diamond producer by carats and, together with De Beers, controls about half the world global rough diamond market.
Source: FT.com
