MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's largest diamond producer, Alrosa [RTS: ALRS], said on Monday its net profit calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards fell 6% year-on-year in 2007 to 16.18 billion rubles ($688 million).
Sales in the reporting period dropped almost 4% to 90.73 billion rubles ($3.8 billion), gross profit grew 4.8% to 34.49 billion rubles ($1.5 billion) and profit from core operations was virtually unchanged at 24.43 billion rubles ($1.04 billion), Alrosa said.
Alrosa, which accounts for 97% of Russian and 25% of global diamond output, produced diamonds worth $2.37 billion in 2007.
On June 18, the Russian government finalized a deal to increase its stake in Alrosa to 50% plus one share. The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), where Alrosa's diamonds are mined, and eight of the republic's districts retain 32% and 8% of the company's shares respectively.
