Alrosa's Q1 Profits up as Demand Recovers
May 19, 21
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa reported a Q1 increase in net profits to $326m, up 13 per cent on Q4 2020.
That's despite an eight per cent drop in quarter-on-quarter revenue (to $1.23bn) and a nine per cent drop in sales volume to 15.5m carats (gem quality and industrial).
Its year-on-year performance hugely exceeded that of 2020, when the global pandemic brough the industry to a virtual halt. Net profits increased almost eightfold and sales volumes rose by 65 per cent.
Alrosa said the market was recovering more quickly than expected but supply was still down about a fifth on pre-Covid levels. Its production forecast for the year remains unchanged at 31.5m carats.
"Q1 saw a continued increase in demand for diamond jewelry from end consumers across all key markets, mainly in the US and China," said Alexey Philippovskiy, the Russian miner's chief financial officer.
"In particular, the US market demonstrated a double-digits growth even against the 2019 results.
"Our outlook for the end consumer market remains positive. The market is recovering faster than expected. Meanwhile, diamond supply is still 20 per cent below the pre-COVID levels and the production is unlikely to bounce back in the mid-term."
Pic shows Alrosa rough diamonds