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Poor diamond sales have bitten into diamond retailer and miner Harry Winston Diamond Corp.
The Toronto-based company, which owns 40% of the Diavik diamond mine in the Canadian north along with a chain of luxury retail stores, showed a $4.7 million loss for the three months ended October 31st. Harry Winston made a $12.7 million profit during the same period in 2010.
Diamond sales during the quarter were down 40%, from 60.7 million in the third quarter of last year to 36.2 million in Q3 2011. Overall quarterly revenues fell from $140.9 million to $119.7 million.
Harry Winston (TSE:HW) said the lower sales were due to the company’s strategy of holding more stones in inventory rather than selling them into a weak market. Those diamonds that were sold commanded a higher price, at $135 a carat compared to $95 per carat last year.
“Challenging trading conditions returned to the diamond business internationally in the third quarter,” said Robert Gannicott, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
“However, this was not the sudden, hard shock of 2008/2009 and, being better equipped to weather a downturn than in 2008/9, we elected not to sell the full rough diamond production into a weak market during the quarter but continued to supply the segments where demand remained resilient. We have now resumed a wider range of rough diamond sales as the market has recovered some poise in the light of continuing good consumer demand. Our luxury brand segment has seen increased unit sales as we continue to broaden the focus of our jewelry and timepieces.”
