Richard Duffy, Chief Executive Officer of Petra, commented, “At our recent investor day, we unveiled our plans to demonstrate Petra Diamonds’ enhanced resilience and compelling value proposition.
We are focussed on delivering our target of US$30 million in sustainable annual cost savings together with a smoothed capital profile, to generate net free cash from the current financial year onwards. This will allow us to continue to deleverage and provide flexibility with regards to refinancing our 2026 2L Notes.
During FY 2024, carats sold increased by 36% compared to FY 2023, with revenue rising by 13%. This increase was driven by Williamson ramping up to steady-state operations and the planned benefit of the delayed sale of the final tender in FY 2023. Annual production was slightly below our revised guidance at 2.73 million carats.
Our net debt decreased by US$11 million to US$201 million at 30 June 2024, compared to US$212 million at 31 December 2023, reflecting our agility in exceeding the cost reduction, capital savings and deferral targets announced in November 2023.
Current diamond market weakness is expected to continue through to the end of the calendar year with some price volatility. We expect diamond prices to show modest recovery in the New Year with market fundamentals providing pricing support in the medium and longer-term.
We are looking forward to addressing the challenges ahead of us from a position of strength, with world class assets that have long term-potential, strong sustainability credentials and an ability to withstand market and capital cycles.”
