Johannesburg: Petra Diamonds, which has operations in South Africa and Tanzania, lifted its full-year production by 17 percent to 3.1 million carats in the fiscal year ended 30 June 2014.

This was slightly ahead of market expectations of 3 million carats, the company said in a statement emailed to Rough & Polished. Petra said it was on track to mine about 3.2 million carats in the fiscal year 2015.

“Petra’s production growth comes at a time when demand for diamonds is continuing to grow around the world, but particularly in the major US market and in emerging markets such as China and India,” said company chief executive Johan Dippenaar.

He said the group remained on track to reach annual production of about 5 million carats by FY 2019. Meanwhile, Petra’s adjusted core earnings leaped to $187.7 million, from $127.6 million a year earlier. Revenue also went up by 20 percent to $471.8 million.

Adjusted net profit after tax was up 75 percent to $93.7 million compared to $53.6 million pocketed a year earlier.

“There is subsequently a positive outlook for the company, particularly given our expectations for further increases in production, rising margins, supportive rough diamond prices, and the continued contribution of exceptional diamonds,” said Dippenaar.