Alrosa Profit Soars as Focus Turns to Sanctions

RAPAPORT... Alrosa has highlighted concerns about the impact of the US's punitive measures after reporting its strongest annual earnings in five years.Revenue jumped 51% to RUB 326.97 billion ($2.99 billion) in 2021 as the diamond market recovered from the previous year's downturn, the Russian miner reported Wednesday. This drove net profit to RUB 91.32 billion ($834 million), almost triple 2020's figure of RUB 32.25 billion ($297.3 million).However, the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine has become the most pressing issue for the company, with the US imposing sanctions on Alrosa and its CEO, Sergey Ivanov. This blocks American firms from extending credit to the miner. An alliance of Western governments has also excluded several Russian banks from the Swift international payment system."These sanctions are preventing the group from obtaining financing from persons and entities connected to US and from effecting payments through sanctioned banks," Alrosa said in its results statement.Management said it was continuing to run the business as usual and "service its obligations," but noted that the impact of the actions was unpredictable. In the fourth quarter of last year, revenue fell 28% year on year to RUB 70.73 billion ($642.7 million), reflecting an unfavorable comparison with the sharp market rebound a year earlier as well as scarcities of goods for the company to sell. Profit slid 43% to RUB 12.14 billion ($111.1 million).With rough in short supply globally, Alrosa made a slight increase to its 2022 production plan, forecasting output of 34.3 million carats, compared with earlier guidance of 33 million to 34 million carats.Image: Rough sorting at Alrosa's Mirny mine. (Alrosa)