Despite an unprecedented drop in production at its mines, De Beers expects to be profitable this year, a company official told Reuters.
“The company will be profitable this year and obviously that’s critically important,” David Prager, director of communications, was quoted as saying.
Prager notes the company has severely cut costs, including dismissing some 300 workers at its London office.
He added that, “We’ve definitely seen signs of recovery in the market.”
“Obviously things aren’t back to normal and people are still cautious, but we’re certainly not in the place we were even in March,” he said. “We expect to see in the second half a further return in demand, and then moving into 2010, more of a return to normal trading conditions.”
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