Alrosa expects global diamond demand to recover this year, may factor this into 2024 dividends

MOSCOW. Sept 10 (Interfax) - Alrosa expects demand on the world market for rough diamonds to recover this year amid good fundamentals and might take this situation into account when calculating annual dividends for 2024, the Russian diamond giant's head of corporate finance and IR, Sergei Takhiyev said during a SberCIB webinar.

"Now the cutting sector is in a phase of releasing inventories. This will probably take one, two, three months, maybe a little longer. As the recovery [of trading] proceeds and good fundamental factors begin to gradually emerge, the company will be able to weigh the situation in annual dividends next year," Takhiyev said.

Among other things, he cited the recent statement from Indian regulator GJEPC about the revival of trading amid reduction of cut diamond inventories among polishers and a decrease in supply of rough diamonds.

Alrosa's supervisory board at the end of August recommended paying a dividend of 2.50 rubles per share (dividend yield of 4.8% on actual prices) for the first half of 2024 to distribute 50% of net profit to IFRS, although with the current debt level of 0.1 the company's dividend policy allows paying shares 70-100% of FCF, which would have amounted to 3.60-5.20 rubles per share.