South African diamond giant De Beers has announced a sharp fall in revenue in 2001 as diamond sales suffered and prices fell - but said there were promising signs for 2002.
Sales of rough diamonds slumped to $4.454 billion in 2001, down 21.5 per cent from the previous year, De Beers said in a statement.
Pro-forma headline earnings stood at $837 million in 2001, though there was no comparable figure for 2000 because of restructuring that involved a private buyout last year by De Beers Investments (DBI).
DBI, the investment vehicle put together by the Oppenheimer family and mining giant Anglo American, has now taken the name De Beers Societe Anonyme. The group said 2001 was a difficult year for the operations of De Beers and for the diamond industry in general.
With the global economy in the doldrums after the September 11th attacks aggravated a pre-existing slowdown, luxury goods sales have been one of the main victims financially.
