Petra Diamonds Limited reported a 21% increase in production and a 22% rise in revenue for the period from 1 July 2018 to 19 October 2018, covering production and sales from 1 July 2018 to 30 September 2018 (Q1 FY 2019).

The Company said that Q1 production rose to 1,068,140 carats (Q1 FY 2018: 883,803 carats), mainly driven by a 25% increase in ROM production across its operations to 1,022,571 carats (Q1 FY 2018: 815,571 carats), offset by planned reductions in tailings recoveries at Finsch.

It added that Q1 revenue was US$ 80.2 million from 626,541 carats sold (Q1 FY 2018: US$ 65.8 million from 586,571 carats sold). The rise was in spite of the fact that on a like-for-like basis diamond prices were down ca. 5% in comparison to FY 2018 due to the usual seasonal weakness, but this was partially offset by the improvement in product mix.

Petra also reported that its net debt at 30 September 2018 stood at US$ 538.9 million (30 June 2018: US$ 520.7 million); and while the increase (due to the timing of the first tender) was in line with expectations; there has also been an increase in diamond inventories, valued at US$ 91.6 million at period end (30 June 2018: US$ 54.0 million). The Company said that it remains on track to generate free cashflow in FY 2019.

Johan Dippenaar, Chief Executive of Petra Diamonds, commented, “The first quarter of FY 2019 shows solid operational delivery, underpinned by strong safety performance, with the ramp up of our expansion programmes leading to a healthy increase in ROM carat production, thereby supporting our expectation of free cash flow generation and subsequent debt reduction.”