Petra Diamonds’ Share Price Hit Hard Following Q1 Release

Mining Weekly reported that on Thursday Petra Diamonds Ltd.’s (LSE:PDL) share price fell sharply on the back of “grade variability issues” and a 31-percent drop in its revenue for Q1 2015.

The company also said that its full-year production will fall below its guidance of 3.3 million carats.

As quoted in the market news:

In the absence of the previous corresponding quarter’s $25.6-million ‘exceptional stone”’ as well as product-mix changes and lower grades, revenue fell to $96.1-million from $138.3-million.

By late afternoon, the share price of the London-listed FTSE 250 company had tumbled by more than 13% to 162.3 pence.

In an earlier trading update for the three months to March 31, Petra cautioned that the market continued to face credit availability headwinds, plus US dollar impact on dollar-denominated diamond prices.

Average prices fetched for Petra’s diamonds fell below the company’s own price guidance, despite the diamond market as a whole experiencing slightly higher like-for-like prices, which Petra was unable to capture after run-of-mine (RoM) volatility saw Cullinan’s production dip 10% to 166 846 ct.

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