RAPAPORT... Pandora has acquired its store network in Taiwan in aneffort to gain tighter control over its brand, it said Wednesday. The jeweler signed an agreement with Carrera Corporation forthe rights to the five concept stores and 14 shop-in-shops that are located inthe region. The deal will give Pandora complete ownership over its brand anddistribution in the greater China area, which includes...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Signet Jewelers Limited same store sales were up 1.7% versus the prior year quarter, the jeweler reported in its results for the 13 weeks ended August 4. The firm raised its fiscal 2019 guidance for same store sales down 1.5% to flat, and total sales of $6.2 billion-$6.3 billion. Virginia C. Drosos, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "While it is still early in our j...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Kimberley Process (KP) delegation conducted a review visit to Russia on August 25-30 to check the system of mining, accounting, implementation and control of operations with rough diamonds, and to assess their compliance with the minimum requirements of the KP Certification Scheme. The delegation was led by Angola and included representatives of Botswana, EU, UAE, South...Read More
RAPAPORT... Tiffany & Co is preparing to launch a new engagement-ringconcept as it heads into the holiday season on the back of solid second-quarter results. The jewelry retailer highlighted several new projects thatwill frame its strategy in the second half of 2018 during its earningsconference call on Tuesday, transcribed by Seeking Alpha. Among these, Tiffany plans to introduce a new engag...Read More
Diamond producer, ASX-listed Lucapa Diamond Company Limited (LOM) says the Company has begun to "shine bright" in the world of Special diamonds.The Company's CEO and Managing Director, Mr. Stephen Wetherell, told the first day today of the three-day Pay dirt Africa Down Under (ADU) mining conference in Perth that Lucapa was making "giant strides" at its flagship Lulo diamond project in Angola.It i...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa is looking to expand its presence in China, with plans to increase the number of long-term clients for its rough diamonds in the country. The company currently supplies around 5% of its total sales to entities in China and Hong Kong, but more companies have access to Alrosa rough by buying throughintermediaries, according to CEO Sergey Ivanov. Alrosa wants to cut out those deal...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Sales of fine jewelry and fine watches rose by 8.7 percent in the U.S. market in June, when compared to the same month a year ago, as the graph below illustrates. However, the big news story was that the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) revised its figures for sales going back 10 years to 2008. That was the year of the great financial crisis, with the market taking seve...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies has opened its first service center in Japan, offering Sarine Profile reports to the local diamond trade. The reports available from the Tokyo service center - which a local Sarine partner will operate - will include imaging, light performance, cut grading and Hearts and Arrows analysis, as well as the story of the diamond's journey from rough to polished. "With t...Read More
RAPAPORT... Production from the Kimberley mining operations in SouthAfrica will come to Antwerp for tender following Petra Diamonds' sale of theasset. Until now, Petra only offered the goods for sale in SouthAfrica. The company offloaded its 76% stake in the project to Ekapa Mining for$22 million last month in order to focus on its core assets. Koin International will facilitate the initial sale o...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucapa Diamond Company has announced the discovery of 1,100 diamonds at its Little Spring Creek project in Brooking, Western Australia. The Australia-based firm holds an 80% stake in the Brooking mine, while its project partner Leopold Diamond owns the rest. The operation is located less than 50km from the Ellendale mine, a site that up until its recent closure produ...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Canadian Jewellers Association (CJA) has announced the appointment of Marco Miserendino as the new Chairman of the CJA Board for 2018-2019. Miserendino is Vice-President, Managing Director and Co-Owner with his sister Paola Miserendino of Bijouterie Italienne, an upscale familial jewelry store in Montreal. He recently become a CRJ title holder of the Americ...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Last week, the Diamond Dealers Club (DDC) of New York, in conjunction with India's Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), hosted over 65 exhibitors and several hundred buyers at its eighth India Diamond Week. The event took place at the DDC's new, state-of-the-art trading floor at the International Gem Tower in Manhattan. The DDC said in a stateme...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies has opened its first service center in Japan, offering Sarine Profile reports to the local diamond trade. The reports available from the Tokyo service center - which a local Sarine partner will operate - will include imaging, light performance, cut grading and Hearts and Arrows analysis, as well as the story of the diamond's journey from rough to polished. "With t...Read More
RAPAPORT... Nirav Modi's US jewelry businesses were directly involved inthe Indian fugitive's alleged billion-dollar bank fraud, a court examiner hasconcluded.Mihir Bhansali, the CEO of Firestar Diamond, Fantasy and A.Jaffe, as well as Ajay Gandhi, their chief financial officer, assisted at leastpartly in transactions necessary for the fraud to succeed, the report claimed Saturday."In addition to...Read More
RAPAPORT... Tiffany & Co. raised its outlook for the year,after strong US and Asia sales yielded better-than-expectedresults. Revenue rose 12% to $1.08 billion year on year in the secondfiscal quarter ending July 31, while comparable-store sales - at branches openfor at least a year - climbed 8%, the jeweler said Tuesday. Profit jumped 26%to $145 million. The company now expects full-year sal...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Canadian Jewellers Association (CJA) has appointed MarcoMiserendino as chairman of its board of directors, it said Monday. Miserendino (pictured) is the vice president and managing director ofMontreal jewelry store Bijouterie Italienne, which he co-owns with his sister,Paola Miserendino. He is also an Independent Jewellers Organization MasterJeweller. Other members of the boa...Read More
RAPAPORT... Shares in Lucapa Diamond Company jumped more than 8% Tuesdayafter the miner said testing at its exploration project yielded "exceptional"results. The miner recovered 1,100 diamonds - including 18 macrodiamondsand 1,082 micro stones - from the Brooking, Little Spring Creek, asset located nearthe Ellendale mine in Western Australia. "The latest microdiamond [stones less than 0.5 millim...Read More
RAPAPORT... Michael Hill saw its earnings dive 90% in the last fiscalyear, due to costs relating to its exit from the US market and the closure ofits Emma & Roe brand. The Australia-based jeweler reported profit of $3.4 million(AUD 4.6 million) for the year that ended June 30, weighed down by a one-timepayment of $18.7 million (AUD 25.5 million) associated with closure costs.Excluding those f...Read More
RAPAPORT... Hong Kong-based jeweler Chow Sang Sang warned that trade tensions may impact its earnings for the remainder of 2018, even after first-half sales grew."Though the results of the first half of 2018 looked encouraging, the impact of international trade disputes, the effect of [the US Federal Reserve's June] interest-rate increase as well as currency revaluation may take their toll in [the...Read More
Diamond miner De Beers and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) in South Africa have launched a capacity-building programme, which aims to support 500 women micro-entrepreneurs in the Blouberg and Musina communities, near De Beers’ Venetia diamond mine, in Limpopo.The key objective of the programme is to equip women micro-entrepreneurs with bu...Read More