India's Asian Star Sees Revenue Fall

RAPAPORT... Indian diamond manufacturer Asian Star's sales and profitdeclined in the third fiscal quarter, the company said Wednesday. Group revenue dropped 24% year on year to INR 7.93 billion($111.7 million) in the three months ending December 31. Net profit plummeted63% to INR 181.6 million ($2.6 million). Revenue from diamond sales, Asian Star's largest division,dropped 27% to INR 6.94 billion ($97.7 million) for the quarter. Proceeds fromthe company's jewelry division rose 7% to INR 1.46 billion ($20.5 million).Last quarter, the manufacturer said it planned to focus on improving jewelryoperations, adding that the division offered better profitability than diamond did. Total revenue was less than the sum of the combined diamond-and jewelry-division figures, because certain transactions spanned bothsegments. Image: An Asian Star diamond ring. (Asian Star)