De Beers shines light on budding jewellery designers

Diamond giant De Beers will this year conduct its bi-annual Shining Light Awards jewellery design competition. De Beers beneficiation manager Kagiso Fredericks told Rough & Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview they set aside 4.5 carats...

22 july 2024

DiaMondaine Diamantaires Club mulls diamond safari tours in southern Africa

DiaMondaine Diamantaires Club (DDC) is set to organise diamond safari tours in southern Africa, home to major diamond-producing countries. DDC founder Agnes Abdulahu told Rough&Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa that the launch of the first diamond safari...

15 july 2024

Vladislav Zhdanov: Questions of efficiency and investment potential of diamond mining versus diamond growing pique keen interest

Vladislav Zhdanov is Professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE). He told Rough&Polished about new researches into the effectiveness of diamond production methods.

02 july 2024

Why it's expensive to cut and polish diamonds in Africa? ADMA president António Oliveira has the answer

The African Diamond Manufacturers Association (ADMA) president António Oliveira told Rough&Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that the lack of a robust infrastructure in Africa fails to accelerate and encourage manufacturing...

24 june 2024

Edahn Golan: IPO feasible but not Anglo’s preferred way to sell De Beers

Edahn Golan, owner of the eponymous Edahn Golan Diamond Research and Data, told Rough&Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that while an IPO of De Beers is “feasible,"  he does not think this is a route Anglo American...

17 june 2024

Signet Jewelers reports 1Q fiscal 2024 results

13 june 2023
Signet Jewelers Limited, the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry, announced its results for the 13 weeks ended April 29, 2023.
Total sales of $1.7 billion, down $170.3 million or 9.3% to Q1 of FY23. Same store sales down 13.9% to Q1 of FY23.
On the international level total sales were $93.0 million, down 15.5% to Q1 of FY23. SSS declined 8.5% versus Q1 of FY23.
"Our Signet team delivered our revenue and bottom-line commitments in Q1 despite macroeconomic headwinds that worsened late in the quarter.  In line with our predictions, there were fewer engagements in the quarter resulting from COVID's disruption of dating three years ago," said Signet Chief Executive Officer Virginia C. Drosos. "As we look to the balance of the year, we're leaning in to leverage our differentiated capabilities, widen our competitive advantages, and drive market share gains. We are proactively addressing the dynamic retail climate, leveraging our team's agility and flexible operating model to raise our cost savings target by up to $150 million while maintaining strategic investments."

Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished