Alrosa Q1 Profits, Revenues Jump

Russian diamond mining monopoly Alrosa reported a 42 percent rise on the year in first quarter net profits to 2.313 billion rubles ($82 million) under International Accounting Standards (IAS).

Meanwhile, revenues grew 24 percent to 20.29 billion rubles ($717 million) due to strong global prices for rough and efficient sales techniques, the company said.

The value of Alrosa’s rough diamond stockpiles dipped to 9.004 billion rubles ($318 million) at the end of the quarter from 9.187 billion rubles ($325 million) a year earlier.

Stockpiles of diamonds bought for resale by Angola's Sunland Mining Company Ltd, an official buyer of diamonds for Angola's state-owned Sodiam, were worth 607 million rubles ($21.4 million). These goods are shipped to Israel for sale as part of an agreement with Alrosa’s partner in Sunland, Dan Gertler.

For 2004 as a whole, Alrosa nearly doubled IAS profit to 12.1 billion rubles ($427 million) while revenues jumped 30 percent to 78 billion rubles ($2.76 billion).