Announcing its unaudited Trading Update for the year ended June 30, 2018 (FY 2018), Petra Diamonds Limited reported a 15% rise in production and a 21% increase in sales revenue year-on-year.

While production rose to 4.6 million carats (FY 2017: 4.0 Mcts), revenue rose to US$576.4 million (FY 2017: US$477.0 mn), the Company said. If these figures are adjusted after taking into consideration the recently-concluded sale of the Kimberley Ekapa Mining Joint Venture, then production registered a 19% rise to 3.8 Mcts (FY 2017: 3.2 Mcts), and sales revenue was up 25% to US$494.6 million (FY 2017: US$394.8 million).

The Company said that Operational Capex (excluding capitalised borrowing costs) reduced to US$142.7 million (FY 2017: US$255.1 million), within budget and in line with the Company’s reducing capital profile.

Johan Dippenaar, Chief Executive of Petra Diamonds, commented, “FY 2018 represents a solid progression for the Group after the challenges of FY 2017 and H1 FY 2018, and places our production on a firm footing, backed up by a strong safety performance.”

Looking ahead, Petra said that FY 2019 production is expected to be 4.6 to 4.8 Mcts, which, excluding the KEM JV, is expected to be 3.8 to 4.0 Mcts. This is in line with the ongoing focus on delivering the most effective capital and operational cost profiles for its portfolio in order to protect overall profit margins.

Dippenaar added, “The future focus of the Group will be on the continued optimisation of production volumes and cost structures across our portfolio in order to maximise cash generation.”

Preliminary results for the Year will be released on 17 September 2018.