Business
H1 FY 2018 Trading Update
H1 FY 2018 Trading Update.
About this update from Petra Diamonds Limited
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 1278D Petra Diamonds Limited 29 January 2018 \n\n \n \n \n \n \nThis announcement contains inside information\n \n\n\n\n\n29 January 2018\n\n\nLSE: PDL\n\n\n\n\n \n \nPetra Diamonds Limited\n(\"Petra\" or the \"Company\" or the \"Group\")\n \nTrading Update for the Six Months ended 31 December 2017\n \n \nPetra Diamonds Limited announces the following trading update (unaudited) for the six months ended 31 December 2017 (the \"Period\", \"H1 FY 2018\" or \"H1\"), ahead of the publication of the Company's Interim Results for the Period on 19 February 2018.\n \n \nSUMMARY\n· Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (\"LTIFR\") improved to 0.24 (H1 FY 2017: 0.25).\n· Production up 10% to 2,208,056 carats (H1 FY 2017: 2,015,087 carats), in line with H1 guidance of 2.2 - 2.3 Mcts. This represents record production for any six month period for the Company.\n· Petra is guiding for a lower grade at Cullinan, largely offset by a higher average diamond price, resulting in the revenue per tonne remaining materially in line with expectations. Recoveries at Cullinan's new plant to date indicate that a steady state higher grade can be achieved by recovering larger quantities of small, low value diamonds; however, it is Petra's initial assessment that it would be uneconomic to do so and would not be in line with the Company's strategic focus on value rather than volume production. Further information on the Company's assessment can be found in the document 'Cullinan - grade versus value analysis' at https://www.petradiamonds.com/investors/analysts/analyst-guidance/.\n· Impact on FY 2018 guidance: \no FY 2018 revenue expected to remain in line with current consensus (including the expected sale of the blocked Williamson parcel in H2).\no FY 2018 production guidance is reduced to 4.6 - 4.7 Mcts (4.8 - 5.0 Mcts previously), mostly due to the lowered grade guidance at Cullinan, as well as production lost further to the labour action in South Africa in Q1.\no FY 2018 EBITDA is expected to be negatively affected by ca. 10-15% versus current consensus, primarily due to the recent strengthening of the Rand and its potential impact on Petra's cost base in US Doll...