Dominion Diamond Sees Higher Sales In FY18

(RTTNews) - Dominion Diamond Corp. (DDC, DDC.TO) late Thursday said it expects fiscal 2018 sales to be between $875 million and $975 million, an increase of 62% compared to fiscal 2017 sales, assuming the mid-point of the guidance, driven by high value Ekati production and solid performance at Diavik.

Adjusted EBITDA, a key earnings metric, is forecast to be between $475 million and $560 million, reflecting a high margin ore mix, combined with ongoing cost containment and efficiency initiatives.

The average price per carat sold is expected to range from $70 to $90 per carat.

The company noted that its sales are expected to benefit from the focus on high value ore from the Misery Main and Koala underground pipes at the Ekati mine in the latter part of fiscal 2017 and the first quarter of fiscal 2018. This, combined with the ramp up of ore from the Pigeon and Lynx pipes at Ekati during the remainder of the year and strong production from the Diavik mine, is expected to drive sales approaching $1 billion.

Dominion Diamond added that the diamond market continues to recover from the impact of demonetization in India. The guidance for fiscal 2018 foresees the sale of a higher volume of lower value diamonds that were previously held back from sale due to the weaker market conditions following the demonetization. This is expected to affect the average price per carat sold as well as the number of carats sold.