Gemfields swings to interim loss as Covid-19 halts auctions

Natural resources mining firm Gemfields said on Monday that it had swung to an interim loss after being "severely impacted" by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gemfields expects to report a net loss after tax of $56.7m for the six months ended 30 June, a marked turnaround when compared to the profit of $12.4m reported during the same period a year earlier.

The AIM-listed firm expects losses per share to be $0.04 versus earnings per shares of $0.01 each in 2019.

Gemfields said its 2020 auction schedule had been hurt by travel and quarantine restrictions put in place to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 and had only been able to host one auction in the year, yielding $11.5m from the sale of commercial quality emeralds in February.

The group highlighted that it remained unable to provide reliable guidance as to when it might next be able to host gemstone auctions or generate meaningful revenue from gemstone sales.

As of 0900 BST, Gemfields shares were up 3.04% at 5.92p.