Sarine falls to net loss of US$530,000 in Q3 on surplus of diamonds in market

MAINBOARD-listed Sarine Technologies registered a net loss of US$530,000 for the quarter ended Sept 30, down from a year-ago net profit of US$3.99 million as sales decreased.

Revenue for the Israeli diamond specialist technology firm fell 35 per cent for the quarter to US$11.3 million. This was mainly due to a "buildup of higher than normal inventories of polished diamonds in the midstream", driving manufacturers to slow production and hold off capital expenditures, the company said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Monday night.

In addition, Sarine alleged that ongoing illicit operations of parties infringing on their intellectual properties and "uncertainties stemming from litigations pertaining to these issues" further affected their sales of capital equipment.

Nonetheless, the group noted that it did not experience a significant drop in the number of stones processed by its installed base, and that recurring revenues accounted for over 46 per cent of the group's revenue.

Loss per share for the quarter was 0.15 US cent, down from an earnings per share of 1.14 US cents a year ago.

No dividend has been recommended for the current financial period, similar to the corresponding period in the previous year.