RAPAPORT. Signet Jewelers reported a positive holiday season as soaring online sales helped compensate for the pandemic’s adverse impact on store traffic.Revenue was flat year on year at $1.8 billion for the nine weeks ending January 2, while same-store sales jumped 5.6%, the retailer.
Lucara Diamond Corp. has unearthed a 341-carat white diamond at its Karowe mine in Botswana, the first over 100 carats the deposit has produced this year.The miner recovered the “high-quality,” unbroken stone from the site’s south lobe M/PK(S) area, known for its large, high-quality rough, it.
RAPAPORT. US retail sales increased 8.3% during the recent holiday season, as consumers looked to connect with family and friends during the pandemic, the National Retail Federation (NRF) said.
Consumers spent $789.4 billion over the November-to-December period, according to the NRF, which bases its numbers on figures from the US Census Bureau. That total exceeded the NRF’s prediction of a 3.6% to 5.2% rise to between $755.3 billion and $766.7 billion. It was also more than double the 3.5% average holiday increase seen over the previous five years, and beat 2019’s 4% improvement, the NRF noted last week.
“Despite unprecedented challenges, consumers and retailers demonstrated incredible resilience this holiday season,” said NRF CEO Matthew Shay. “Faced with rising transmission of the virus, state restrictions on retailers, and heightened political and economic uncertainly, consumers chose to spend on gifts that lifted the spirits of their families and friends, and provided
Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID), a UK-based nonprofit, has written to Petra Diamonds’ major debt holders to raise concerns about alleged human-rights abuses at its Williamson mine in Tanzania.RAID claims to have documented at least seven deaths and 41 assaults by security.
De Beers has reduced its sightholder list in a revamp of its supply system, with more goods expected to go to pure-play manufacturers, especially those with Africa-based factories.The new list features fewer diamond dealers than before, as De Beers wants as many clients as possible to be adding.