Results round-up

Koovs’ enjoyed strong sales growth in the first half of the year but losses widened by almost two thirds and the Indian online fashion retailer was hit by the government's demonetisation as it bids to clamp down on ‘black money’.

For the six months ended 30 September, revenue of £4m was double that produced in the same period last year, as website traffic soared 132% to 38m visitors during the half-year period and the number of registered users rocketed to 1.5m from 600,000.

However, pre-tax losses widened by about 60% to £9.1m, which the company said was in line with expectations as it invests in marketing and technology, while the £26.2m raised in additional share capital during the period meant it entered the second half with the equivalent of £7.7m in the bank

The Indian government's demonetisation on 8 November, whereby it replaced Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes with new Rs500 and Rs 2,000 denominations to root out cash earned illegally or not declared to tax officials, had a “short-term” impact on the market and liquidity problems, Koovs said.

E-commerce companies in particular were affected since the crackdown as cash on delivery is commonplace in India.

But chief executive Mary Turner said that offering alternative payment options, including a doorstep conversion to card and e-wallet, reduced the impact and "we have seen good growth in November and had some of our best days for sales in December"

It added that due to the Reserve Bank of India’s recent approval for a new online payment up to Rs2,000 it was in a “strong position in the medium term” to capitalise on digital transactions and to maximise the space in the market created by the monetary transition.

Stellar Diamonds has more than doubled its full-year pre-tax loss due to a significant rise in the impairment of intangibles, and says it is pursuing a transformational acquisition.

"At the same time maintain exposure to our quality portfolio of diamond assets in West Africa," said chief executive Karl Smithson in a statement.

Pre-tax loss was $7.1m, from $3.09m. It booked $4.3m for the impairment of intangibles, from $605,728 a year earlier.

"During the past year we have pursued the key strategy of consolidating our Tongo kimberlite dyke licence with the adjacent Tonguma kimberlite dyke mining licence in order to create an enlarged hard rock mining operation that can offer long-term and sustainable production and revenues," said Smithson.

"In the event of completion of the acquisition of Tonguma, the combined mine would have an initial inferred +1.18mm diamond resource of 4.5 million carats, with diamond values ranging from US$209/ct to US$310/ct, from just three (of eight) kimberlite dykes in the licence areas, all of high grade and high diamond values."

Smithson added that the PEA demonstrated a life of mine of 20 years with production estimated to be over 200,000 carats per year for the most part.

"The acquisition process is ongoing and remains the focus of Stellar (albeit there is no guarantee that it will be completed). In order to focus on the acquisition we undertook to joint venture our Baoulé kimberlite pipe project in Guinea and our Liberian licences to Citigate whilst retaining a free-carried interest in these projects.