Sarine Technologies’ sales fell last year amid a persistent oversupply in the midstream and weak demand, which dampened diamond-manufacturing activities.
Revenue fell 9% to $39.2 million for 2024, the Israel-based supplier of diamond-grading technology reported Sunday. However, profit for the full year came to $1.1 million, compared with a net loss of $2.8 million a year earlier. The bump in profit came as the company reduced costs throughout the group, it explained.
Sales of capital equipment — customers’ one-off machine acquisitions — declined in most markets. An increase in recurring revenues from fees clients pay on an ongoing basis, such as for diamond scans, offset that decrease slightly. Recurring revenues now comprise the majority of Sarine’s earnings. The overall drop in sales stemmed from impaired business conditions throughout the entire diamond-jewelry value chain, which outweighed the addition of rough-planning software for lab-grown diamonds.
The company plans to relocate its manufacturing activities to India, its main market, which it believes will help further reduce costs. It will also open a GCAL lab in the country to serve the synthetics industry there.
Sales to India fell 12% to $19.4 million for the year, while revenue from the African market slid 20% to $5.1 million, and in the US fell 2.2% to $5 million. Those drops outweighed 14% growth in sales to Europe to $3.1 million.
“For the second year in a row, the natural-diamond manufacturing industry continued to face challenging market conditions,” Sarine said. “Weak consumer demand in China and the continuing disruption by lab-grown diamonds have negatively impacted the demand as well as prices of natural diamonds, with the consequent dampening of diamond-manufacturing activities from which the group derives most of its revenue.”
Separately, Sarine announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Kitov.AI, a company that has developed a quality assurance and control (QA/QC) system. The move enables Sarine to diversify into new fields separate from the diamond industry, it said.
Image: The Sarine lab in Israel. (Sarine Technologies)
