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Sarine’s 4Q Revenue -32%, Profit Plummets 62%
Mar 1, 2016 7:51 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies reported revenue slumped 32 percent
to $12.4 million in the fourth quarter that ended December 31 as diamond
manufacturing levels fell.
Profit dived 62 percent
year on year to $1.5 million during the period, according to a statement
February 28 by the Singapore-listed company, which makes technological products
for diamond and gemstone production.
Diamond manufacturing
activities dropped 30 to 50 percent because of “overly aggressive” rough
diamond pricing in contrast to stagnant polished prices and higher than normal
polished inventory levels, Sarine said. However, the market picked up in
December as strong holiday sales depleted polished inventory and boosted prices,
with the RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI™) for 1-carat, GIA-graded diamonds rising 1.5
percent in December and 0.9 percent
in January.
As a result of the market
improvement and the launch of Sarine’s small-stone Meteor inclusion mapping
system, the company’s fourth-quarter revenue was 31 percent higher than the
previous three months.
Full-year revenue dived 45
percent to $48.5 million and profit plummeted 87 percent to 3.6 million. Nonetheless,
the board recommended a dividend policy of $0.02 per share every six months,
compared with a full-year cumulative dividend of $0.03 per share for 2015.
“With the reduction of
inventories, working capital credit availability is also less of a problem in
the midstream and Indian banks are reportedly softening their attitude towards
the industry,” said Uzi Levami, chief executive officer of the Israel-based company.
“Even though manufacturers
are wary of Chinese market demand slowing, we are seeing record numbers of
stones being scanned by our inclusion mapping systems and have already taken
orders in the first two months of 2016 equal to the business realized by the
group in all of Q4 2015. Barring unforeseen circumstances, we expect midstream
manufacturing activities to continue to improve over the course of the year.”
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Tags:
Israel, Manufacturing, Rapaport News, Sarine, Sarine Technologies, Singapore, technology
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