Alrosa Posts 6 Percent Rise in Revenues in Q1

Net profit plunged by 51 percent on the year in the first quarter to $196 million (6.26 billion rubles) and dropped 29 percent in the last quarter of 2012 mainly due to exchange rate losses, the miner said.

Sales in volume terms in the first three months of this year rose eight percent on the year to 10.3 million carats, but were down 6 percent on the fourth quarter of last year.

Production fell 7 percent in the first quarter of this year to 7.5 million carats, and slumped 17 percent on the fourth quarter of 2012.

Production at the Nyurbinskaya and Jubilee pipes in the first quarter increased by 13 percent and 67 percent, respectively, on a year earlier due to improved grades in each of the pipes.

Meanwhile, production at the Udachniy pipe continued to decrease due to the gradual phasing out of open pit operations and transformation into an underground mine. And production at the International underground mine resulted in a 54-percent decline in the first quarter on a year earlier due to the processing of additional volumes of ore from storage in the firth three months of 2012.

Production at the Mir underground mine in the first quarter was 7 percent lower than the year-earlier quarter due to inferior grades.

Diamond revenues were 5 percent higher on the year in the first quarter driven by a 25-percent increase in sales volumes of gem-quality diamonds. Diamond prices in the first quarter, excluding shifts in product mix, were 14 percent lower than in the first quarter of 2012.

Diamond revenues were 15 percent lower than in the last quarter of 2012 at $1.14 billion (36.3 billion rubles), due to a 14-percent fall in the average price of sold gem-quality diamonds. Excluding shifts in product mix, gem-quality diamond prices increased by 1.4 percent in the first quarter from the fourth quarter of last year.

Capital expenditure was down by 55 percent in the first quarter from the last quarter of 2012, in line with the firm's capex plan.