De Beers earns $518 million in first half of 2019

Anglo-American - and its subsidiary De Beers - published their results for the first half of 2019.

For Anglo-American, rough diamonds constitute less than ten percent of its earnings. Anglo's chief earnings come from coper ($789 million), PGMs i.e. precious metals ($824) Bulks, i.e. a collation of products such as coal, iron ore, aluminum and other minerals ($3.36 billion!) and diamonds ($518 million) bringing Anglo-American's earnings performance to about $5.5 billion EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).

De Beers reported that its earnings had exceeded the US$500 million mark, despite a challenging environment, while maintaining "discipline on costs while delivering progress on our key projects and initiatives. As a result of the headwinds experienced in the first half of 2019, our financial performance was down on the first half of 2018, with revenue at US$2.6 billion and rough diamond sales declining 21 per cent."

Production was down 11 percent to 15.6 million carats and sales were down 13 percent to 15.5 million carats.  De Beers disappointing rough diamond sales in the first half were explained with this:" There were a number of challenges for rough diamond sales in the first half of the year, resulting from a combination of cyclical factors, changing industry dynamics and macroeconomic challenges."

However, optimism is in order and therefore the statement said: "The impact of some sector challenges is expected to be short-term, with a healthier industry and a positive outlook expected in the long-term."