De Beers Profits Up 10 Percent

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jul 25th 2008 at 12:02PM

Jewelry sales often flounder in the face of a rough economy but so far that hasn't hit De Beers. The company recently reported that total sales increased 10 percent in the first half of the year. The company's retail division which been expanding their amount of stores over the past couple of years had double-digit growth over 2007 pushed by the sales of high-end pieces like the Dragonfly necklace shown above and bridal jewelry. Still the company has expressed concerns over the second half of the year because of the struggling U.S. economy which has already impacted mass-market retail sales. De Beers, like many other companies that do businesses on the global playing field, is looking to Russia, China and the Middle East to help make up some of the shortfall from any potential purchasing dips in the U.S.

Tags: de beers, DeBeers, diamonds, jewelry