Gemfields takes $125 million ruby-mine impairment despite positive EBITDA

Gemfields ($GEM) reported first-half revenue of $106 million and EBITDA of $40.7 million, but a $125.2 million non-cash impairment at Montepuez Ruby Mining drove a statutory loss of 4.3 US cents per share. Management identified weak recoveries of premium rubies as the group’s principal operational and financial challenge. Adjusted headline earnings were positive at 0.6 US cents per share.

The period also benefited from a mixed-quality ruby auction postponed from the previous year, limiting simple interpretations of underlying sales momentum. Net debt was $44.2 million at the half-year end, before $33.3 million of auction receivables subsequently collected. The impairment does not itself consume cash, but signals reduced assessed value at a major asset. Sustained improvement in premium-stone recoveries remains important to translating processing capacity into stronger cash generation.

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