RAPAPORT... Sales of rough from Mountain Province's Gahcho Ku?(C) mine grew 2.4% to 659,318 carats in the first quarter, the company said Monday.The Canada-based miner also saw a 6% uplift in its average price, yielding $75 per carat compared to $71 per carat in the first quarter of 2019. Together, these factors increased the company's revenue by 7% to $49.2 million for the three months endin...Read More
RAPAPORT... Luk Fook's same-store sales dropped 57% in the fourth fiscal quarter amid extensive retail closures for the first two months of the year and sluggish footfall in March.The jeweler saw a 60% year-on-year slide in same-store sales - at self-operated branches open for at least a year - across Hong Kong and Macau for the three months ending March 31, it reported last week. This follow...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales of rough from Mountain Province's Gahcho Ku?(C) mine grew 2.4% to 659,318 carats in the first quarter, the company said Monday.The Canada-based miner also saw a 6% uplift in its average price, yielding $75 per carat compared to $71 per carat in the first quarter of 2019. Together, these factors increased the company's revenue by 7% to $49.2 million for the three months endin...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers and its parent company Anglo American have contributed an additional $3 million in aid to help mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19.The donation, announced Monday, will be split between two emergency finance bodies in South Africa, which is home to De Beers' Venetia deposit.The Solidarity Fund, launched by the South African government last month, will receive two-thir...Read More
(IDEX) - Firestone has halted operations at its Liqhobong mine, in Lesotho, for at least a year. It blames the "dramatic and severe" impact of the coronavirus crisis on the global diamond market. Work was suspended at the end of March in response to a lockdown imposed by South Africa, which surrounds the landlocked kingdom. The company now says it is now extending the care and maintena...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Yoram Dvash has been elected acting president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses following the temporary departure of Ernie Blom.Mr Blom headed the Antwerp-based group of 30 worldwide bourses from 2012, but has stepped down citing "personal reasons". His South Africa-based Ernest Blom Diamonds is currently involved in a legal dispute with the Dubai Diamond Exchan...Read More
RAPAPORT... AGD Diamonds has recovered a 50.36-carat, gem-quality diamond from its Grib mine in Arkhangelsk, Russia.The stone, which the miner unearthed last week, is its second-largest find this year. In January, it uncovered a diamond weighing 86.46 carats at the same deposit. This followed a yield of 11 large stones in 2019, each weighing in excess of 50 carats.AGD is owned by Russian inve...Read More
(IDEX Online) - JCK Las Vegas has been canceled. The biggest jewelry show in North America was postponed last month by organizers Reed Jewelry Group in response to the coronavirus crisis. They have now confirmed that it will not take place at all this year, nor will sister event Luxury 2020. JCK Las Vegas attracts over 30,000 of the world's most influential industry professionals, and wa...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds' revenue slipped in the first quarter, as the coronavirus weighed on the average price of rough diamonds from its Let??eng mine in Lesotho. "Prices for Let??eng's diamonds have been negatively impacted in March 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, but have demonstrated a resilience in this global crisis," the company said Tuesday.Sales fell 9% to $47.3 million fo...Read More
RAPAPORT... Swiss watch exports slumped in March amid continued market pressures resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.Shipments slid 22% to CHF 1.36 billion ($1.4 billion) for the month, with most markets declining significantly, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry reported Tuesday. Orders from Italy plunged 58%, while supply to Hong Kong fell 41% to CHF 138.5 million ($142.6 millio...Read More
RAPAPORT... New York diamond dealer Emanuel "Manny" Gordon died on April 7 aged 79, after contracting COVID-19.The industry veteran, who founded the eponymous Manny Gordon Trading in 1984, trained and subsequently worked with his brother-in-law, the late William Goldberg. Goldberg's jewelry house, William Goldberg Diamonds, announced Gordon's passing last week - stating that his death had "le...Read More
RAPAPORT... Jewelry sales at Titan Company slipped in the fourth fiscal quarter as news of the pandemic weighed on consumer sentiment in March. Revenue for the jewelry division - which includes the Tanishq, Zoya and Utsava collections- decreased 5% in the three months ending March 31 due to lost sales during the final month of the quarter. As the coronavirus spread, and the World Health Organ...Read More
RAPAPORT... Jewelry sales at Titan Company slipped in the fourth fiscal quarter as news of the pandemic weighed on consumer sentiment in March. Revenue for the jewelry division - which includes the Tanishq, Zoya and Utsava collections- decreased 5% in the three months ending March 31 due to lost sales during the final month of the quarter. As the coronavirus spread, and the World Health Organ...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Baselworld, the world's largest watch and jewelry event, has been dealt another blow with the departure of four more luxury brands. Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith, all part of the LVMH Group, say they won't exhibit at the event, rescheduled to January 2021 because of coronavirus. Instead they will be joining the new rival event in Geneva, in April 2021, along with...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Canadian miner Mountain Province Diamonds has drawn $25m from its credit facility and halted sales indefinitely in response to coronavirus. It is still operating its Gahcho Ku?? (C) mine, in Northwest Territories, albeit with COVID-19 distancing protocols and four-week rather than two-week crew rotations to minimize movement in and out. And the company's third sale of the year...Read More
RAPAPORT... Earlier this month, the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT) said it would issue two parallel ratings in its company credit reports to show the effect of COVID-19 on liquidity. In an April 6 interview with Rapaport News, Erich Jacobs, president of the Rhode Island-based credit agency, explained the impact of the crisis, how the ratings work, and why some businesses might not survive.Rapa...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company has put its Mothae mine in Lesotho on care and maintenance until the global market recovers.The miner temporarily closed the asset last month after the government placed the country on lockdown. Lesotho is also dependent on neighboring South Africa - which is also on lockdown - for its essential mining supplies. While the initial closure was only supposed to...Read More
RAPAPORT... Michael Hill's sales fell 12% in the third fiscal quarter as stores closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.Group revenue dropped to AUD 105.1 million ($66.8 million) in the three months ending March 31, the jeweler reported last week. The company was forced to close all its retail locations in Canada on March 20, and shut stores in Australia and New Zealand a few days later. Same-...Read More
RAPAPORT... LVMH has withdrawn its four watch and jewelry brands from the 2021 Baselworld show after several of its heavyweight competitors quit the event.Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith will instead take part in a new exhibition in Geneva next April, LVMH said in a statement Friday. They will join Rolex, Tudor, Patek Philippe, Chanel and Chopard, which pulled out of Baselworld last wee...Read More
RAPAPORT... The number of jewelry stores operating in the US fell 4.2% year on year to 24,280 in the first quarter as exits from the industry more than doubled, according to data from the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT).The number of companies leaving the sector rose to 323 for the quarter, from 125 in the same period of 2019, the JBT's figures showed. The number of new businesses declined 19%...Read More