Large Stones Bolster Petra Sales

RAPAPORT... Petra Diamonds' revenue rose in the third fiscal quarter amid the sale of high-value stones and continued strong prices for rough.Sales climbed 33% year on year to $140.6 million for the three months ending March 31, the company said Wednesday. At Petra's March tender, prices increased 38% on a like-for-like basis compared with the previous sale in December. The hike outweighed a 31% drop in sales volume to 735,225 carats. During the period, the company sold a 157.88-carat, white, type IIa diamond from its Cullinan mine in South Africa for $5.5 million.Output for the January-to-March period jumped 18% to 830,456 carats, primarily due to the resumption of production at the Williamson site in Tanzania following a prolonged period of care and maintenance, as well as steps the miner took to correct issues at the Finsch deposit in South Africa.Over the period, Petra reduced its debt to $107 million as of the end of March from $152.3 million on December 31.For the first nine months of the fiscal year, Petra's revenue increased 43% to $405.4 million, while sales volume fell 16% to 2.3 million carats. Production rose 7% to 2.6 million carats."Although we anticipate some pullback in diamond prices from the elevated March tender levels as a result of the economic impact of the war in Ukraine, the structural shift in the diamond market continues to provide positive momentum," said Petra CEO Richard Duffy. "This, coupled with our operational improvements driving margin and cash generation, supports a positive outlook for the business with the potential for further reductions in our debt levels."Image: A truck transporting ore at the Williamson mine. (Petra Diamonds)